WASHINGTON, DC – Honest Elections Project issued the following statement announcing a new lawsuit challenging Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s new policy to count ballots arriving up to two weeks after Election Day. That policy, adopted following a lawsuit brought by leading liberal election lawyer Marc Elias, violates the law and is unconstitutional.
Congress has set a single nationwide date for the election. Under the Constitution, state legislatures may regulate the “Manner” of elections by allowing early voting. That includes establishing an Election Day deadline for the receipt of absentee ballots. Michigan—and more than half of all states—have done so. Yet, liberal groups want election officials in key states to simply ignore those duly enacted laws, and that is precisely what Secretary Benson is prepared to do. As in Minnesota, the Honest Elections Project is fighting alongside committed voters to defend free and fair elections.
Jason Snead, Executive Director of Honest Elections Project:
“Today, three committed Michiganders—Senator Ruth Johnson, Marian Sheridan, and Terri Lynn Land—with the support of the Honest Elections Project, filed a lawsuit against the state of Michigan to restore the rule of law and the election safeguards Secretary Benson needlessly and recklessly abandoned. Her actions senselessly risk the credibility of Michigan’s election. We applaud these voters for their dedication to fair elections.
At a minimum, counting legally invalid ballots is an invitation to doubt, delays, and legal disputes that could stretch on for weeks. If Michigan cannot certify its election results by December, it may be excluded from the Electoral College—disenfranchising the entire state. At worst, it creates the opportunity and the motive for bad actors to cast late ballots in the hopes that these illegitimate would be counted. In other words, this is a senseless recipe for disaster.”