After former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI; photo, left; bio here) retired from Congress, he bought a $1.6 million home in Coral Gables, Florida, claimed a “homestead” tax exemption on it, and registered to vote there.
Then Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) decided to retire, too, and Rogers decided he wants to be a Senator.
So he bought a Michigan property, is claiming a “homestead” tax exemption on it (you can’t do that in two states, because you can only claim such an exemption for your primary residence; so he may be committing tax fraud, too), canceled his Florida voter registration, and registered to vote at that Michigan property, where a house is under construction.
Oops. It’s not legal to live there, and he doesn’t live there, and it’s not legal to register to vote at an address you don’t live at. See stories here and here.
Rogers, who won the Michigan GOP Senate primary, isn’t even a little embarrassed. Ever since Trump popularized the meme that only elections won by Republicans are legitimate, and any election won by a Democrat was stolen by cheating, Republicans everywhere have separated themselves from the notion that election rules apply to them, too.
If you don’t believe this, use this blog’s search function to find postings on “voting fraud,” and see who pops up. (Spoiler: Lots of Republicans.)
Rogers lied on his voter registration. To him, and his Republican supporters, that’s no big deal.
CNN host Rachel Maddow discusses Rogers’ dubious voter registration, and other shady GOP candidates, in the video below (which has a nice picture of Rogers’ Florida estate, and also a photo of what exists of his Michigan voting residence).