Cheryl Fritze, director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is “in cahoots” with Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel when it comes to conducting the state’s elections and intimidating county election coordinators.
In a recent video, Benson said she would go after local election officials who do not certify election results despite the possibility of legitimate legal concerns about the results.
“[I]f someone were to violate the law and not certify the election at the local level, we will come for you,” Benson said in a video published by The Recount.
“So any local certifier thinking of skirting the law and not certifying the vote, don’t even think about it, because we’ll get you,” Benson added.
Fritze said she interpreted Benson’s comments as a legal threat. Also, she said she believes the secretary of state would likely work with the Michigan Attorney General to prosecute officials who do not certify the vote.
“I’m not sure how else you would take that,” Fritze explained on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“We all know that Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson…work in cahoots without question. There are pictures of them over time, they’ve done it repeatedly, where they’ve posed like they’re Charlie’s Angels, the three of them together,” Fritze added.
Fritze said that the trio has a “very firm hand on how they operate” in handling the state’s elections, pointing out that the state’s voter rolls have not been cleaned up in years under Benson’s leadership.
“Jocelyn Benson, of course, hasn’t cleaned up voter rolls for heaven’s sake, and now she’s worried about going after election officials. Our voter registration in Michigan stands at 105 percent of who are actually voting age citizens in the state, and she simply refuses to clean up the voter roll,” Fritze said.
Amid Benson’s apparent intimidation of county election officials, Fritze said she hopes those officials are “not intimidated” by Benson but instead “strengthen together to push back against this.”
In addition to Benson’s “authoritarian” message to local election officials, Fritze also pointed out how Benson’s office is insisting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cannot withdraw his name from the state’s ballot amidst the suspension of his presidential campaign and intent to withdraw his name from all battleground state ballots.
“As we all know, part of the reason that RFK Jr suspended his race in swing states was to avoid this very thing, and now Michigan, along with Nevada and Wisconsin and other swing states have all said that he has to remain on the ballot, which defeats his whole purpose that he did on Friday,” Fritze said.
Fritze also pointed out another situation in Michigan that is on Republicans’ radar. Recently, the Republican National Committee, Michigan GOP, and chairs of Wayne County Republican committees sued the City of Detroit over its failure to hire an equal number of Republican and Democratic election inspectors.
Despite the multiple challenges in Michigan, Fritze said she is “optimistic” that former President Donald Trump will win the state. She said that he and his running mate, JD Vance, are “fighting for the vote.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance do not believe this is a runaway. They are fighting, fighting, and fighting. They are fighting for the vote,” Fritze said.
RealClearPolitics’ 2024 RCP Electoral College Map lists Michigan as a toss up state for this year’s presidential election. Trump won Michigan in 2016 by 0.3 percent of the vote; however, lost the state in 2020 to President Joe Biden by 2.8 percent.
Michigan has 15 electoral votes.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Gretchen Whitmer” by Gretchen Whitmer. Photo “Dana Nessel” by Dana Nessel. Photo “Jocelyn Benson” by Jocelyn Benson.
