• The state says Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop could face criminal charges if she continues canceling voter registrations in her county
  • The clerk says her county’s voter roll is littered with people who are dead or no longer live in the county
  • The county clerk’s husband was raising money for Bishop to sue the state

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The Michigan Bureau of Elections has formally demanded that Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop stop trying to change or cancel voters’ registrations in her county.

If she doesn’t, she could face criminal charges, Jonathan Brater, the bureau director, wrote in a letter dated Thursday and obtained by Votebeat. She could also lose her ability to help administer elections in her northern Michigan county.

“You do not have unlimited authority to conduct any action you see fit simply because you were elected to office,” Brater wrote, a direct response to a press release Bishop put out last week.

Bishop declined to comment and hung up on a Votebeat reporter when reached by phone Thursday.

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Bishop, a Republican, has previously claimed that Antrim County’s voter roll is cluttered with people who are dead or no longer live in the county. In March, she sent postcards out to many voters warning them that if they did not confirm their address and registration, they could be deregistered. Records obtained by Interlochen Public Radio show that about 1,800 people received such notices — 8% of the county’s total registered voters as of November 2025.

The state Bureau of Elections sent Bishop a letter on April 14 warning Bishop that her actions were illegal and fell outside her authority as a county clerk. In Michigan, municipal clerks — those at the city and township level — are in charge of maintaining voter registration lists.

The notices have confused voters and municipal clerks alike. For instance, Banks Township Clerk Julie Chellis pointed out that a state guideline says unless a clerk has indication that a voter has moved or died, they should not be removed from the roll unless it’s been more than 20 years since they last voted — but many of the affected people are still active voters.

“The list doesn’t make sense to me, because there are 18-year-olds on that list. Where did you get that list from?” she said. “There are people that are voting absentee, as we speak, that I have ballots coming for, who are on that list.”

Relations between the bureau — which creates guidelines for clerks of all levels across the state — and Bishop have significantly deteriorated as a result of the controversy. The same day the state sent its latest letter, Bishop’s husband, a radio host known as Trucker Randy, spent much of his morning show raising money for Bishop to sue Brater as well as Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

It appears no suit has been filed yet. But a fundraising website set up by Bishop suggests that she is not planning to sue over the letters from the bureau, but rather over rules Benson and the Michigan Department of State have implemented or proposed on how to run elections.

Trucker Randy said during his show Thursday that the decision to file suit came after God told Bishop to “pick up the sword.” They are working with Kevin Kijewski, a former Republican candidate for attorney general who provided the legal defense for one of President Donald Trump’s electors who allegedly submitted a false certificate of election to Congress in 2020. Kijewski told Votebeat on Friday that he did not comment on “potential client matters.”

“Vicki just made the decision,” Trucker Randy said Thursday. “She says, ‘Somebody’s got to stop (Benson). Somebody’s got to stop her.’ I said, ‘Well, why not you?’”

In its April 14 letter, the Bureau of Elections asked Bishop to answer several questions about her actions by April 23. It appears she tried to respond to some of the questions on April 20 but had multiple typos in the email address to which she sent her answers. In its Thursday letter, the bureau said it had not received an official response from Bishop, although it acknowledged her April 19 press release. However, Angela Benander, a spokesperson for the Department of State, said Friday the Bureau of Elections had finally received Bishop’s response and was reviewing it.

Benander also confirmed that the Bureau of Elections’ letter was already being prepared before Bishop announced her intention to sue.

“This is unrelated,” she said.

Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org.

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