Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently attacked the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, labeling him an online “troll,” for highlighting an issue that’s fueling distrust and questions about transparency in the 2024 election.
“Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens!? Is that true @CommunityNotes?” Elon Musk posted to X, the social media site he owns.
Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens!? Is that true @CommunityNotes? https://t.co/f7Q2iCZdQ7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2024
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The site’s fact checkers responded with a community note that asserts “Michigan plans to remove over 600,000 inactive voters by 2027.”
“The state currently has 8.4 million registered voters, according to the latest records obtained by Bridge Michigan, nearly 500,000 more than the number of people in the state who are old enough to vote,” the note read, linking to the Bridge Michigan analysis.
Those facts were immediately countered with election misinformation from Benson, who twisted the data to fit her own narrative.
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The online spat is the latest attack from Benson on Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of Space X, Twitter, and CEO of Tesla who is supporting former President Trump in 2024. Benson previously launched an investigation into Musk’s America PAC, and alleged X’s AI search assistant Grok produced false information about the election.
“Let’s be clear: @elonmusk is spreading dangerous misinformation,” Benson wrote in a post that garnered 26.6 million views. “Here are the facts:
“There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state,” Benson wrote. “Musk is pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law.
“Don’t feed the trolls,” Benson wrote. “Get trusted info at Michigan.gov/ElectionFacts”
Let’s be clear: @elonmusk is spreading dangerous disinformation.
Here are the facts:
There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state.
Musk is pushing a misleading number that… https://t.co/hybJf8G9KH
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) October 20, 2024
Musk fired back in a post on Sunday that set the record straight.
“Jocelyn Michelle Benson, shame on you for blatantly lying to the public!” Musk wrote. “You only plan to remove the ineligible voters AFTER this election. That necessarily means that there are far more people registered to vote than there eligible voters.”
Jocelyn Michelle Benson, shame on you for blatantly lying to the public!
You only plan to remove the ineligible voters AFTER this election.
That necessarily means that there are far more people registered to vote than there eligible voters. https://t.co/PuHjSfj1o4
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2024
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Benson’s own voter registration statistics support Musk’s claim, as does two pending lawsuits that aim to force the secretary of state to remove voter registrations for thousands who have died, gone to prison, moved or otherwise become ineligible to vote.
The Michigan Department of State website puts the number of registered Michigan voters at 8,441,536, with 339,551 inactive voter registrations slated for cancellation in 2025, and another 258,175 in 2027.
A Bridge Michigan analysis last week found the 8.4 million registered voters outnumber the number of Michiganders old enough to vote by nearly 500,000, the third highest imbalance among states. The reality is Michigan registrations represent 103.8% of the voting age population, or more than 13 percentage points higher than the next closest state in the Great Lakes region, Indiana at 90.6%.
The problem did not exist until after Benson was elected Secretary of State in 2018.
When Benson took office, the state’s voter rolls sat at 7.5 million, or about 300,000 fewer than a voting age population of about 7.8 million. Four years later, the state had added 700,000 registrations – many automatically through driver’s license renewals – swelling the voter rolls to 8.2 million for a voting age population of 7.9 million in 2022.
An investigation by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which filed a lawsuit against Benson in 2021 over the issue, found numerous registered Michigan voters who died decades ago.
Another lawsuit from the Republican National Committee filed in February illustrated how the problem has only grown since Republicans raised the issue in similar lawsuit in 2020.
“In 2020, Michigan had one county with registration rates above 100% of the voting age population,” the most recent lawsuit read. “Now it has 53.”
The Bridge Analysis shows at least 11 counties have 120% or more registrations than legal voters.
The RNC argues the situation violates the National Voting Rights Act and unnecessarily sows distrust during a contentious election in a critical battleground state.
“Failure to comply with the NRVA’s voter-list maintenance obligations undermines the integrity of elections by increasing the opportunity for ineligible voters or voters intent on fraud to cast ballots,” according to the RNC lawsuit.
Other lawsuits contend bad actors have already leveraged the situation to cheat.
Detroit resident Ramon Jackson filed a lawsuit this summer against Benson, the Detroit Department of Elections, and Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey over allegedly fraudulent absentee ballots cast on his behalf and others using fake addresses.
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The lawsuit, which cited numerous examples, including five individuals registered to vote at a vacant house on Detroit’s Minock Street.
“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 dismissed in U.S. District Court for lack of legal standing.
Jackson was among numerous Detroiters who repeatedly raised the issue with city officials during public meetings this year, though Benson and Winfrey disputed the allegations.
Benson alleged the evidence presented by Jackson is based on “lies and falsehoods” that are designed to “wrongfully cast doubt on the legitimacy of our elections,” Bridge Detroit reports.