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A Chinese student at the University of Michigan was arrested on Wednesday after he found himself caught up in the Republican campaign in recent months claiming widespread voter fraud by illegal immigrants.
The Michigan Department of State said the unnamed 19-year old student voted in the US presidential election on Sunday in Ann Arbor and was subsequently charged with acting as an “unauthorised elector attempting to vote” and with “perjury” for making a false statement to secure registration.
“Only US citizens can register and vote in our elections,” the state office said, noting that voting by non-citizens was extremely isolated and rare.
“It is illegal to lie on any registration forms or voting applications about one’s citizenship status,” it added. “Doing so is a felony.”
US congressman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican and chair of the House select committee on China’s Communist Party, seized on the issue.
Moolenaar is running for re-election in the battleground state widely regarded as one of several in the country that will determine who will win the tight presidential race.