Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson believes former President Donald Trump’s “threats” are “designed to intimidate us out of doing our duty … as election officials,” but her threats to local election officials are something else.
Benson, who is openly pining to replace Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, appeared on MSNBC after testifying before Congress on Wednesday to converse with host Alex Wagner “about the determined resolve of election workers across the United States to ensure the administration of a free and fair election even in the face of threats and intimidation by Donald Trump and his MAGA followers.”
Wagner led the interview by highlighting a 2022 survey from the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice alleging increased threats against election officials, linking that to Trump’s “lies last night about illegal undocumented immigrants coming in and a concerted effort to get them to vote fraudulently.”
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Benson repeated the lie that “only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections” and alleged comments from the 45th POTUS are designed to “stoke fear, obviously, and division” to set the stage for challenging the election results if he loses in November.
Wagner pointed to a Trump post on Truth Social that vowed to prosecute those who cheat during the election, and posed the question to Benson: “How much of a chilling effect is this having on the recruitment of people to work the polls, and also those who are tasked with … certifying the elections and making sure state elections are run smoothly?”
Benson alleged some are scared to participate, while the “vast majority” have opted to “double down on our commitment to being professional, bipartisan, and ensuring transparent and secure elections continue to be the rule of the land.”
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Despite the “threats designed to intimidate us out of doing our duty and our jobs as election officials,” Benson said, “we’re ready to stand guard, and we won’t be intimidated.”
Benson’s comments on intimidating local election officials follows repeated threats to local election officials from the Secretary of State herself.
Benson partnered with the far-left “journalism” site The Recount in August to read and respond to “angry election tweets” as part of her campaign against election “misinformation.”
In a video posted to YouTube, the former “hate crimes” investigator for the Southern Poverty Law Center highlighted an X post from “Joan Crawford’s eyebrows” that asked: “Are plans in place in case some counties don’t want to certify?”
“The law is quite clear, these officials have one ministerial duty: to certify our elections. Then it goes up to the state level and then they certify at the state level,” Benson said. “So, … if someone were to violate the law and not certify the election at the local level, we will come for you.”
Benson doubled down on that threat last week in an interview with activist Democratic lawyer and Trump-Russia collusion hoaxer Marc Elias, who is serving as an attorney for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, The Federalist reports.
Dismissing any potential concerns about fraud as “political pressure,” Benson again promised to leverage her position to go after local election officials who may have concerns about the vote and hesitate to certify the results.
“We’ll get the results certified,” Benson said. “What will happen, also, is there will be legal consequences.”
Benson’s insistence that local officials certify the vote with no questions asked stems from a state ballot referendum approved by voters in 2022 that eliminated county board of canvassers’ discretion to make certification a “ministerial, clerical, nondiscretionary duty.”
“I think it’s going to be much harder legally, practically, realistically for anyone to not certify and get away with it,” Benson told Elias. “If they don’t like the election results, we’ll be there the minute, the second it happens.”
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“You have a responsibility to certify the election results if you’re in those positions,” Benson said. “If you abdicate that responsibility, we will seek consequences.”
That threat follows similar efforts from Benson to intimidate voters who question the official media narrative.
An “election misinformation” document from Benson’s Bureau of Elections last month calls on Michiganders to report their neighbors “if you see misleading or inaccurate information regarding voting or elections in Michigan.”
At least one resident in Ross Township who questioned the timeline for changing voting locations received a cease and desist letter from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel threatening criminal prosecution.
Benson partnered with Nessel in July to call on members of the National Press Foundation to help Democrats working on “prebunking” perceived misinformation to “protect the minds of voters.”
“It’s much more difficult for us to figure out how to fight that narrative battle, which essentially was about calling things out for what they were … but also really to protect the minds of voters just as we are trying to protect the operations and processes from being misled by this misinformation,” Benson said.
Benson, however, has repeatedly promoted misinformation while campaigning for Democrats, alleging Trump is planning a national abortion ban if elected – a lie the former president has repeatedly debunked.