Issue brief: More than 1 in 4 Detroiters Cannot Readily Produce a Current, Name-Matched Proof of Citizenship. Who is Most at Risk?
DETROIT-More than 1 in 4 Detroiters cannot easily produce up-to-date documentation of their U.S. citizenship that matches their current name, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan's Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, in partnership with Outlier Media.
The findings have implications for voter disenfranchisement, as federal and Michigan lawmakers have proposed requiring voters to provide additional proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers.
Supporters of the proposals say the additional documentation is necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting. Opponents note that federal law already makes it a criminal offense for noncitizens to vote and it's rare for noncitizens to register to vote in the U.S.
Ninety-one percent of Detroit adults say they could quickly find a citizenship document, such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers, if asked to show one tomorrow, the survey found.
However, about 1 in 4 Detroiters (27%) said they either didn't have the documentation readily available (9%), weren't sure if their documentation was up-to-date (14%), or weren't sure if the documentation matched their current name (4%).
"When we saw the data, we saw an opportunity to provide Detroiters with both a reminder of what they need to vote and to equip them to exercise their right on Election Day," said Erin Perry, Outlier Media editor-in-chief.
A newly released issue brief, with support from U-M's Poverty Solutions, summarizes the survey results. The survey found lack of easy access to citizenship documents is concentrated among the lowest-income households. Among residents in households earning under $10,000 annually, 18% could not find a document or were unsure they could-more than twice the rate of any other income group.
And 11% of Detroiters ages 18-34 were not sure they could readily find a citizenship document, versus 5% of those ages 35-54, 9% of those ages 55-64 and 9% of 65 and older.
"These aren't people who lack citizenship. They're citizens who can't quickly lay their hands on a current document with their current name," said Mara Ostfeld, DMACS faculty co-lead and a research associate professor, who co-authored the issue brief with DMACS data manager Yucheng Fan. "That's especially true for younger Detroiters, many of whom are registering to vote for the first time."
Expired documents are most common among Latino Detroiters. One-quarter of Latino residents with a findable document report that at least some of their citizenship documents are expired or may be expired.
Women are twice as likely as men to report that there is or may be a name mismatch on their citizenship documents. Among ever-married women, 10% report a mismatch or are unsure, compared with 2% of never-married women, 3% of ever-married men and 2% of never-married men.
"Changing your name when you marry or divorce is an ordinary life event, but it can leave a woman's birth certificate out of step with her current ID," Fan said. "If these proposals are adopted, that mismatch alone could stand between a citizen and her voter registration."
