Tag: Jocelyn Benson

Michigan’s Top Elections Official Says That Results Won’t Be Available November 3

Michigan Star Staff

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Sunday that it could take up to a week to count all of Michigan’s absentee ballots for November’s election.

“We should be prepared for this to be closer to an election week, as opposed to an Election Day,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The bottom line is we are not going to have the full results and a counting of all of our ballots on election night.”

Benson said that Michigan’s election officials were “laser-focused” on ensuring that all ballots are counted accurately, and referenced how her office had purchased more voting tabulators in order to ensure that the influx of absentee ballots could be counted as efficiently as possible.

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Michigan and Ohio Secretaries of State Endorse Zuckerberg’s Millions Directed to Elections

Corinne Murdock

Michigan and Ohio state secretaries Jocelyn Benson and Frank LaRose endorsed $300 million directed to elections by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) and Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) announced Tuesday that Zuckerberg and his wife donated in order “to promote safe and reliable voting in states and localities.”

Both Benson and LaRose agreed that the investment was necessary considering the pandemic’s effects on the presidential election. LaRose reposted the press release the day it came out, citing the need for accurate information during voting.

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Coalition Files Lawsuits to Stop Gov. Whitmer From Silencing Free Speech in Elections, Secretary of State Benson From Undermining Absentee Ballot Integrity

Jason M. Reynolds

A coalition filed two lawsuits in Michigan on Monday, a federal case against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allegedly silencing political speech, and a state suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for reportedly circumventing state law protecting the right of Michiganders to have their vote properly counted.

The lawsuits were announced on a new website launched by the coalition: Got Freedom? The website is available here.

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Advocates Sound Alarm Over Wayne County’s Absentee Ballot Signature Verifications, Other Election Issues

Jason M. Reynolds

Election integrity advocates believe something fishy is going on in Wayne County with absentee ballots, and they say Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is undermining the security of the process there and across Michigan.

Glen Sitek of the Election Integrity Fund provided an exclusive statement to The Michigan Star.

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Michigan Hires An Elections Security Specialist Trying to Ensure a Secure 2020 Presidential Election

Zachery Schmidt

Michigan appointed its first-ever elections security specialist for the upcoming 2020 presidential election. The person tasked with upholding the state’s election security is Ashiya Brown who previously worked as an audit and database management expert in the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, according to the Detroit Free Press.

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Activist Group Joins Michigan’s Efforts to Block Republican Constitutional Rights in Two Lawsuits Over Redistricting

Jason M. Reynolds

Activist group Voters Not Politicians joined the State of Michigan’s opposition to two Republican lawsuits aimed at protecting constitutional rights involved in the redistricting process.

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Michigan Attorney General Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuit by Residents Who Are Ineligible to Serve on New Redistricting Commission

Jason M. Reynolds

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan to throw out a lawsuit that aims to scrap a new process of drawing districts.

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