By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


State officials are pushing back against criticism by a trio of Republican State Senators who have questioned the timing and motivation of a memo by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Benson issued the memo, which is posted below, Tuesday to all county clerks in the state ordering the deletion of all electronic pollbook software and associated files, an action they say is standard and in line with past practice. Despite that, State Senators Lana Theis of Brighton Township, Aric Nesbitt of Lawton and Tom Barrett of Charlotte, said the order, “does not make sense, with requests for a forensic audit of the state’s Nov. 3 election results having been formally made,” adding that, “the timing of the directive seems questionable at best, regardless of precedent, given the audit requests and the ongoing legislative hearings concerning alleged election fraud and irregularities experienced throughout the state.”

The statement went on to say that “For the sake of our state’s elections process, state and local government must stop at nothing to ensure its integrity. In our view, this means retaining the very files Benson is ordering deleted and making them available for an independent forensic audit, and we call on the secretary of state to ensure they are retained intact. Little is more sacred in our constitutional republic than transparent, fair and honest elections. Everyone, no matter their political ideology, should be able to trust the execution and result of every election, at every level, every time. Michiganders should not be satisfied until we regain that trust, and, as senators, we are committed to doing whatever we can to ensure it.”

In response to the statement, Jake Rollow, the Director of Communications & External Affairs for Secretary of State Benson, told WHMI that the memo also included the statement that the deletion of the data should only occur, “unless a petition for recount has been filed and the recount has not been completed, a post-election audit is planned but has not yet been completed, or the deletion of the data has been stayed by an order of the court or the Secretary of State.” Rollow said that “countless local, state and federal officials” have confirmed that Michigan’s election was “secure and transparent and the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the voters. The election will be audited, and all materials needed for audits are preserved, including printouts of all data on e-pollbooks. Suggestions to the contrary are completely false.

Rollow says the Bureau of Elections memo sent to clerks is the same memo that has been sent to clerks for years, including under the administration of Republican State Senator Ruth Johnson when she served as Secretary of State. He says the fact that state senators chose to ignore those facts, "demonstrates they have no interest in preserving the integrity of our elections or democracy.” He provided WHMI with a nearly identical memo, also posted below, issued by the Bureau of Elections following the 2018 General Election.

However, State Senator Theis said that was not an adequate answer, telling WHMI that, “The Secretary of State has said a risk limiting audit would be performed following the election, just as was conducted after the August primary election. However, a risk limiting audit is not the same as an independent forensic audit that myself, numerous colleagues, and thousands of Michiganders have requested.”

Theis continued by saying that the November 3rd election was “unlike anything we have seen in decades, if not ever, and to insinuate that preserving in place the electronic pollbook software and data on individual clerk’s systems is not in the best interest of election integrity is asinine. Given the many requests for an independent forensic audit and the ongoing legislative hearings about alleged election fraud and irregularities, the argument that ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ is unacceptable under these circumstances. Neither do we believe it fulfills the language of our state constitution, added by voters in 2018, describing the right of a qualified Michigan voter to, quote, ‘have the results of statewide elections audited, in such a manner as prescribed by law, to ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections.’ What we did before hasn’t helped and doing it over again won’t help either.

Theis concluded by saying that she and Senators Nesbitt and Barrett “desire nothing more than to ensure the integrity of our elections process, and part of that is having a government that is open and honest so we can rule out improprieties. If the allegations are inaccurate as Secretary Benson claims, then she should be welcoming an independent forensic audit with open arms.”

But Rollow said that the notion the pollbook data was needed to provide proof of the election’s integrity didn’t stand up to scrutiny, pointing out that “High ranking members of the Trump Administration, including Attorney General William Barr, the FBI and CISA, have confirmed that this was the most secure election in history and there is no evidence of fraud on any scale to overturn the outcome of the presidential election. In Michigan, no evidence of widespread fraud has been identified whatsoever. In Detroit, which has inaccurately and deviously been the subject of so many allegations, the election was executed far more effectively than in the past, with 72% of precincts in balance or explained, compared to 58% in August and 42% in November of 2016. Had a recount been requested, the 72% would have likely increased further when ballot containers were opened in accordance with state law. Further, the risk-limiting audit pilot conducted following the March primary – the largest ever in the nation with 277 Michigan jurisdictions participating – immediately confirmed the accuracy of the state’s ballot tabulation machines. Indeed, only the people most frustrated by President Trump’s loss are buying into and amplifying the contrary, false and widely debunked conspiracy theories. They do so recklessly and at the risk of our democracy.”

Rollow concluded by saying Michigan’s November election will be, “comprehensively audited in accordance with state law, our state constitution, and the facts and data of the election, not the fantasies conjured by the losing candidate and his supporters and enablers. Electronic poll book data, which is removed after every election to safeguard personal identifying information, and is separately preserved on paper records, is not needed to conduct any reasonable type of audit that could conceivably be requested, because paper versions of the pollbook are always maintained and used for audits. The term ‘forensic audit’ does not appear anywhere in Michigan election law, and could not serve any purpose that is not already served by Michigan’s time-tested set of checks and balances to the election process—including the canvass, recount and procedural audit processes. Those with no background in election administration or only basic knowledge of Michigan election law continue to use buzzwords without context in increasingly transparent attempts to delay the inevitable.”