A Chinese student voted illegally in Michigan's 2024 election and that ballot was counted.
Michigan voters collected 750,000 signatures to make sure it never happens again.
But the Left’s foreign money is doing everything possible to stop them.
Hansjorg Wyss Dark Money Has Already Spent 34 Million to Rewrite Michigan Election Law
Hansjörg Wyss is a Swiss national who's become a big spender on left-wing politics in the United States – and he has openly stated his goal is to "re-interpret the American Constitution in the light of progressive politics."
To make that happen, Wyss has funneled $305 million into a dark money group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund through his Berger Action Fund.
That money has flowed directly into Michigan. Of all the states the Sixteen Thirty Fund has targeted, Michigan has received the most ballot initiative spending – over $33.5 million since 2014, according to Americans for Public Trust.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund used that money to gut Michigan's voter ID requirements in 2022, pumping over $11 million into a Promote the Vote campaign that made photo ID optional by allowing voters to sign affidavits instead of showing identification.
Now Promote the Vote is back. And so is their foreign-backed money machine.
750,000 Signatures and a Democrat Senate Blocking the Fix
Michigan conservatives didn't wait for politicians to act. The group Americans for Citizen Voting collected 750,000 petition signatures – 300,000 more than required – to put a citizen-only voting amendment on the November 2026 ballot.
The amendment would require proof of citizenship to register and vote – the same standard already in place in 14 other states, all of which passed similar measures by overwhelming margins.
Promote the Vote's executive director, Michael Davis Jr., called it "voter suppression, pure and simple."
Voters Not Politicians – another group funded by the Sixteen Thirty Fund – offered a more colorful response. Executive Director Christy McGillivray said, "F*** this s***, actually."
McGillivray's group took over $5 million from Sixteen Thirty in 2018 to strip redistricting power from Michigan's elected legislators and hand it to a rigged commission. Now she's attacking Americans for Citizen Voting for having wealthy supporters – while her own organization is bankrolled by a foreign billionaire.
Michigan Republicans saw the hypocrisy and moved. A bipartisan bill to ban foreign funding of ballot initiatives passed the Michigan House 97-6 in February. It has since stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
So foreign money remains legal in Michigan – just in time for a ballot fight over whether non-citizens should influence who votes there.
The Loophole That Makes This Possible
Federal law already bans foreign nationals from donating to candidates or political action committees. But a longstanding loophole allows them to fund ballot initiative campaigns.
That loophole is how Wyss does it. His Berger Action Fund writes checks to the Sixteen Thirty Fund. The Sixteen Thirty Fund writes checks to groups like Promote the Vote. Promote the Vote runs campaigns to weaken election security. The money launders through enough layers that most voters never connect the dots.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers connected them – and filed a lawsuit against Wyss in November 2025, alleging he funneled nearly $10 million into Nebraska ballot campaigns in direct violation of state law.
Ohio didn't wait for a lawsuit. When the Sixteen Thirty Fund dropped $14 million into Ohio ballot campaigns in 2023, the state legislature banned foreign funding of ballot initiatives outright.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund immediately stopped spending in Ohio – what Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead called "a powerful admission that foreign funding taints the group's entire operation."
Nine states have now closed the loophole. Michigan isn't one of them.
Jocelyn Benson Confirmed Noncitizen Voting in Michigan and Then Did Nothing
Michigan's Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson confirmed at least 16 non-citizen votes were cast in the 2024 election.
The most documented case – a 19-year-old Chinese student at the University of Michigan – registered to vote using his student ID, signed a document falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, and fed his ballot into a tabulator.
He later asked to get the ballot back.
Under Michigan law, once a ballot enters the machine, it cannot be retrieved. Benson confirmed the vote would count.
A bench warrant has since been issued after the student failed to appear in court.
Benson's response wasn't to fix the system. It was to downplay it – referring 13 cases to the attorney general and calling it a day.
Michigan's voter rolls grew from 7.5 million to over 8.2 million registrations under Benson's watch – surpassing the state's voting-age population – driven by automatic registration through driver's license renewals that require no citizenship verification.
"Jocelyn Benson has admitted this is a problem," said Kristin Combs of Americans for Citizen Voting, "and has also admitted she isn't going to do anything about it."
So voters are doing it themselves. And a Swiss billionaire is already spending to stop them.
Jason Snead put the question directly: "Are they really interested in keeping Michigan exposed to foreign spending and foreign influence, especially with a ballot measure coming up in November on an issue as crucial as trying to prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections?"
The Democrat-controlled Senate has the answer. They let the bill die. Now Wyss's $33.5 million investment in Michigan is continuing to shape the state’s elections.
Sources:
- Leif Le Mahieu, "Foreign Money Could Pave The Way For Non-Citizen Voting In Key Swing State," The Daily Wire, March 30, 2026.
- "Wyss-Backed Group Has Dumped $100M Into State Ballot Initiatives," The Federalist, April 18, 2024.
- "GOP Bill Cracks Down on 'Loophole' Allowing Foreign Donors to Pump Dark Money Into US Elections," Fox News, April 17, 2024.
- "Here Are The States That Closed The Loophole On Foreign Cash In Elections," The Daily Wire, September 3, 2025.
- "Nebraska Suing Swiss National Over Dark Money Contributions to State Ballot Initiatives," WOWT, November 5, 2025.
- "More States Moving to Close Election Funding Loophole Few Voters Knew Existed," The Daily Signal, February 22, 2026.
- "Chinese Student to Face Criminal Charges for Voting in Michigan," The Detroit News, October 31, 2024.
