Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson doesn’t expect to have 2024 election results in Michigan until a full day after polls close, prompting questions about the reason for the delay.
On Sunday, CBS News’ Face the Nation posed the question: “How quickly to you expect to get results?”
“Well, you know, in 2020 we had the results of our highest turnout election in Michigan history within 24 hours of the polls closing. The unofficial results were completed by 8 p.m. on Wednesday, so we’re tracking that again this year,” Benson said.
Michigan SOS @JocelynBenson says she estimates the battleground state will have the results of this year's presidential race by the end of the day on Wednesday — the day after Election Day.
"With that said, we will always prioritize accuracy and security over efficiency," she… pic.twitter.com/udCHTjDW6a
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 20, 2024
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“We do have more options to process ballots sooner than Election Day, which is where we were restricted in 2020, so I’m optimistic we could see results even sooner, but I would estimate end of the day on Wednesday as the best guess on how we’ll perform,” she said. “With that said, we’ll always prioritize accuracy and security over efficiency. Understanding how much people will want those results, we’re still going to make sure the process is secure and accurate before we put anything out to the public.”
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Benson’s comments sparked an immediate backlash, with many online questioning why the Secretary of State needs the extra time when officials have produced quicker results with less sophisticated elections in the past.
“Why is this year different than other years that you can’t count the ballots on the day of the election?” Raymond Stanley posted to X. “What’s your game.”
Why is this year different than other years that you can't count the ballots on the day of the election? What's your game.
— The Raymond G Stanley Jr (@raymondgstanley) October 20, 2024
“Florida has more than twice the population of Michigan. Within two hours of the polls closing, Florida has the results,” another user posted. “This is how crooked Democrats and dirty RINOs steel [sic] our elections.”
Others pointed to Michigan’s bloated voter rolls, with registrations at 103% of the state’s voting age population.
“Sounds like Michigan has lots of ghost voters you can use to inject ballots,” one X user wrote, linking to a video on the number of Michigan registrations. “Is that why it will take so long to count?”
Still others seemed to want a straightforward answer to a simple question: “Why can’t they have them on election night?”
The question is more relevant than ever considering election law changes approved by Democratic majorities in the Michigan Legislature that now allow for counting absentee ballots up to eight days before the election, as well as expanded opportunities for in-person voting.
Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist predicted to Axios Detroit the changes will mean 90% of absentee ballots will be counted before Election Day begins, resulting in a “sizeable shift in how we report results on election night.”
“I don’t envision a world where we don’t know who won Michigan by midnight,” Siegrist said
In the 2020 election, delays in counting absentee votes in Detroit fueled chaos and questions about the integrity of the results, with former President Donald Trump leading on election night, before large numbers of absentee votes for President Joe Biden shifted results in his favor.
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“We don’t trust their system,” one X user posted in response to Benson’s comments on Sunday, along with video of Detroit election workers blocking the public from viewing the ballot counts in 2020.
“I’m sure nothing sketchy will happen between 10pm-8am,” another wrote in reference to the 2020 results.
“I still say if American Idol can count millions of votes during a commercial break, they can do it in a day,” one X user posted.
Michigan is expected to play a critical role in the 2024 presidential election, with 15 electoral votes up for grabs in a state that elected Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. Michigan has 8.4 million registered voters, or about 500,000 more than the state’s voting age population.
“In 2020, Michigan had one county with registration rates above 100% of the voting age population,” according to a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee in February. “Now it has 53.”
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, according to Bridge Michigan.
Benson’s comments on Sunday came as Trump and Harris are in a virtual tie in the Great Lakes State, with FiveThirtyEight’s polling average showing Harris up by just 0.1 of a percentage point at 47.4% support. Two weeks ago, Harris’ lead was at 1.7 percentage points.
The most recent poll of 1,529 likely voters conducted by AtlasIntel Oct. 12-17 shows Trump with 50% support, and Harris at 47%, with a 3.3 percentage point margin of error.