Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has updated guidance to clerks after the Republican National Committee claimed in a lawsuit that officials counted thousands of improperly processed ballots.
The RNC sued Benson earlier this month, claiming her guidance caused officials to count “thousands” of ballots in the state’s primary without the legally-required markers showing signatures were verified, as The Federalist previously reported. Benson has since updated her guidance to clerks, telling them to indicate signature verification. The RNC said in a press release this was “in response” to its suit.
“The clerk must verify that the signature on a returned absent voter ballot envelope matches the voter’s signature on file,” reads the updated guidance. “Approval can be expressed by completing and initialing the portion of the ‘clerk section’ indicating that the signature was verified.”
Benson’s guidance previously did not tell clerks to mark signature verification before counting ballots. So the RNC, the Michigan Republican Party, and Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry sued Benson earlier this month claiming this caused officials to count “thousands” of improperly-marked ballots in the Detroit suburb of Warren, as The Federalist previously reported.
“We are suing to protect absentee ballot safeguards in Michigan which will help make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” said RNC Chair Michael Whatley at the time.
He celebrated Benson’s recent change to the guidance on X.
“Great election integrity news out of battleground Michigan. Clerks were counting mail ballots without proof of signature verification, opening the door to fraud.
