Folks who question the integrity of Michigan’s elections could be violent maniacs, but thankfully Michigan has Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as its guardian of democracy.

Benson told a National Press Foundation meeting in Detroit on Monday that she’s testing out a “panic button” communication system for the 2024 primary that will allow election workers to immediately summon police if they perceive a threat, continuing a theme that implies her political adversaries are a big problem, WHTC reports.

The panic button would work in conjunction with increased criminal penalties for intimidating poll workers approved by the legislature’s Democratic majority, which also recently banned county canvassers from investigating fraud at Benson’s behest.

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It’s unclear why poll workers can’t simply call 911 in an emergency.

The bottom line, according to Benson, is there’s zero possibility of election fraud in 2024, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fueling hostility toward those who collect and count the ballots.

“One of the things that’s been alarming is the proliferation of the number of leaders, not just candidates not just one candidate, repeating those types of suspicions without any merit or basis in fact and it makes me concerned in this era of political violence that comments such as that, casting wrongly in my view, aspersions on the election process itself can lead to potentially violence, not just against candidates but election officials and elections administrators,” Benson said.

“It’s one of the reasons why in 2023 we passed a law in Michigan to increasingly make it a felony for someone to threaten an election worker in their line of duty, so we can try to protect folks who were just simply doing their jobs,” she said. “But certainly we’re all on guard in the months ahead and trying to communicate the futility of casting these false aspersions on the security of our elections.”

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Many of the so-called “false aspersions” stem from repeated court rulings that have found Benson’s election guidance for county canvassers to be unconstitutional, the Secretary of State’s unwillingness to purge the state’s bloated voter rolls, and actual cases of voter fraud.

Just last month, Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Christopher P. Yates ruled that guidelines issued by Benson regarding signature verification for absentee ballots violated the Michigan Constitution by suggesting “(v)oter signatures are entitled to an initial presumption of validity” when they’re not.

“The Secretary of State and the Director of Elections possess powers and duties concerning election procedures, but their powers do not extend to the promulgation of rules that conflict with the Michigan Constitution or statutes enacted by our Legislature,” Yates wrote.

The Michigan Supreme Court is also reviewing other election guidance Benson imposed through a manual issued to clerks in 2022. State and national Republican parties correctly assert the rules did not go through the Legislature’s bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules as required, arguing they violate state election laws.

In June, both sides delivered oral arguments centered on instructions for election challengers, which involve a uniform credential form, limits on recordings, and a ban on electronic devices during absentee vote counting, according to The Detroit News.

Another Supreme Court lawsuit filed by 130 Michigan voters centers on Benson’s “unlawful guidance for elections,” as well, with a focus on reforms spawned by Proposal 2, which they argue was approved by deceived voters in 2022.

“Petitioners have reason to believe (Proposal 2) resulted in a number of unconstitutional revisions to the Michigan Constitution, and subsequent new election laws, making it impossible for the State of Michigan to guarantee all legally eligible Michigan voters a free, fair, lawful, secure, and transparent election process in the 2024 elections,” the lawsuit reads.

The most recent cases are among many others that have resulted in seven separate court rulings striking down Benson’s unlawful guidance on a variety other issues, including open carry of firearms at polling places.

Still other cases challenge Benson’s refusal to vet Michigan’s bloated voter rolls, which include 105% more registered voters than the voting age population. Despite clear evidence the registered voters list include Michiganders who died more than 30 years ago, Benson has refused to take proactive steps to clear ineligible voters, instead vowing to keep those folks in the system as long as possible.

There’s also actual documented cases of voter fraud.

Ramon Jackson found numerous former Detroit residents including himself who were registered to vote years after moving away from the Motor City, including folks he knows have never voted in their lives.

Jackson’s investigation, which started with efforts to recall a city council member, revealed former Detroit residents who were registered as permanent absentee voters without their consent or permission at addresses that included vacant homes or where they no longer lived.

“There are dozens of others who meet this pattern; fraudulently listed as registered voters and fake votes cast on behalf of these voters,” Jackson wrote in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that was ultimately dismissed for lack of legal standing.