Case has highlighted problems with Michigan’s same-day voter registration system
A Chinese citizen and University of Michigan student who faced charges for voting illegally has fled the country, federal prosecutors say.
Haoxiang Gao voted illegally in the 2024 presidential election at a voting site set up in the university’s Museum of Art; it was run by Democrats to help boost voter turnout.
Gao, 19, fled the country to China earlier this year to avoid prosecution, allege federal prosecutors, who unsealed the case against him on May 30, according to several news reports.
“The new criminal case … showed that he managed to leave the U.S. despite surrendering a passport and agreeing to remain in Michigan while on a $5,000 bond tied to state-level charges about his illegal vote,” the Detroit News reported.
“Gao surrendered one Chinese passport but used a second one issued in his name to board Delta Flight 389 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and fly to Shanghai on Jan. 19, according to prosecutors. It was unclear how he obtained the second passport, and the United States does not have an extradition treaty with China,” it added.
Trouble with the case first began to materialize when Gao failed to appear for a court hearing in late April and a bench warrant was issued, Votebeat Michigan reported.
It represented “an escalation in a case that has highlighted a loophole in the state’s same-day registration system, prompting lawmakers and state officials to propose new solutions to ensure it won’t happen again,” the outlet reported.
Gao had allegedly registered and voted on Oct. 27 at the University of Michigan, where there’s more lax procedures around same-day and early voting procedures. He signed the voter registration application stating he was a U.S. citizen.
He lived in the country legally, but was ineligible to vote because he is not a U.S. citizen, and had reportedly faced two felony charges — false swearing to register to vote and an unqualified elector attempting to vote.
The voting site at the university’s Museum of Art run by Democrats had meant to serve as a “fun … one-stop-shop” to help boost voter turnout, as The College Fix previously reported.
The situation drew national headlines because “there was no way for local election officials to prevent Gao’s ballot from being counted after it was entered into a tabulator,” the Detroit News reported.
According to MLive, Gao is now also charged with flight to avoid prosecution, a felony punishable by up to five years in federal prison.
MORE: Chinese student facing charges for voting in Michigan still on voter rolls