LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says her office will not tolerate any effort to obstruct the certification of Tuesday's primary election based on "partisan games" or "baseless lies."
"Any attempts to block the certification of our elections, regardless of the results, will be futile," Benson said during an interview with The Detroit News. "We are confident that the courts will swiftly enforce the law and that at the end of the day, the will of the people will stand."
Benson, a Democrat, made the comments just days before the first statewide vote since November 2020, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump attempted to overturn Michigan's results based on unproven claims of widespread fraud.
About 5.5 million ballots were cast in Michigan's November 2020 presidential election. In the last gubernatorial primary in August 2018, about 2.1 million voters participated when there were contested Republican and Democratic primaries for governor.
Benson said turnout in Tuesday's primary, which features a hotly contested five-candidate GOP primary for governor, might generate somewhere from about 2 million to 2.5 million voters.
As of July 25, 589,813 absentee ballots had been returned statewide, according to the Secretary of State's office.
"We're ready for anything at this point," Benson said.
Benson and election officials from Wayne to Antrim counties have faced intense scrutiny since the November 2020 election when Trump, a Republican, lost Michigan to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points.
In the 20 months since that election, Republican Party leaders in the battleground state have replaced incumbent GOP members of county canvassing boards — the panels in charge of certifying results — in multiple counties. The Detroit News first reported the trend in October.
The changes have prompted some to worry that newly appointed members of canvassing boards who agree with Trump's claims of past election fraud could attempt to deny certification on the local level.
Boards of county canvassers, which include two Democrats and two Republicans, must complete their canvasses of the August primary by Aug. 16. Then the Board of State Canvassers — also comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans — is required to certify the statewide results by Aug. 22.
In November 2020, one Republican member of the Board of State Canvassers, Norm Shinkle, abstained from certifying the statewide results, but the other Republican, Aaron Van Langevelde, cast the deciding vote, along with the two Democrats, to certify Biden's victory.
Since then, Van Langevelde has been replaced on the board by state Republicans, and Shinkle resigned to run for the state House.
The Secretary of State's office has been working to ensure canvassers know their legal responsibility to certify valid election results, said Benson, the state's top elections official. The state will respond quickly if there are illegal attempts not to certify an election, the secretary said.
Election officials in Michigan also expect a greater emphasis this year on poll workers across the state as some Republicans have criticized how the 2020 vote was administered and decided to become involved in the process.
In the last few months, nearly 6,000 people have volunteered to serve as poll workers through a state platform, Benson said Friday.
Likewise, Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey said more than 3,000 poll workers have been trained and assigned to work in the August primary in the state's largest city.
The Detroit Department of Elections had received a list of more than 800 Republicans who were interested in participating as poll workers in the primary, Winfrey said.
"We’ve reached out to every last one of them and, as a result, we’ve trained and assigned more than 264 Republican poll workers," Winfrey said last week.
In November 2020, the then-TCF Center, where Detroit's absentee ballots were counted, became hostile as Republicans and Democrats feuded over the handling of the election.
At Detroit's riverfront convention center, now called Huntington Place, Winfrey's department plans to "beef up" security for poll workers as a result of the chaotic scene that unfolded on the day after the 2020 election when city workers were still counting absentee ballots.
"I think people know not to try the shenanigans that people tried in 2020 or they will be dealt with," Winfrey said.
This year, Benson's office created and distributed a "Poll Worker's Code of Conduct" following the disruptions that followed the 2020 election.
The code of conduct features 11 statements for poll workers to sign to affirm they will abide by the vows. The promises include not expressing personal political opinions while present in a voting precinct and providing "impartial" treatment.
"Poll workers and election inspectors should, at all times, uphold and increase the public trust and confidence in Michigan’s elections, reflect the highest degree of integrity and demonstrate commitment to each principle of this code," the document says.
Benson said she expects poll workers to follow the code of conduct.
"If it is not (followed), we are in touch with local law enforcement, as well as local clerks, to ensure that any disruptions or illegal activity is dealt with swiftly, so we can minimize any potential impact ... on the elections," Benson told The News.
Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist said he's created a four-page document about "maintaining order" on Election Day that he's giving to individuals who oversee poll workers in his Wayne County municipality.
Siegrist said he's not sure the new code of conduct is required because workers have shared values: running a legitimate, free and fair election.
"I think that some people are serving as poll workers because they don’t believe the system is secure," Siegrist said. "I have been honored to train them and am excited for them to see the process on Tuesday.
"This is exactly how the system should function."
Clerks across the state also are bracing for more partisan poll challengers on Tuesday than usual.
In Midland County, a traditionally Republican area, county Clerk Ann Manary said four different groups have said they're sending challengers to polling precincts.
"In Midland, we don't normally see a lot of challengers here," Manary said Saturday.
Manary, who has been managing elections in Midland County since 1997, said she has invited groups and voters concerned about election integrity to observe the vote-counting process.
"I think that's the only way that we are going to get people to believe in our system and to bring back the integrity," said Manary, who is running for a state House seat in a contested primary on Tuesday.
"People are not educated about how elections work. So the more you can get them involved, the more they understand the process and they realize that we do have very strong checks and balances in place and that our elections are very secure here in Michigan."
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(Detroit News staff writer Kayla Ruble contributed to this report.)
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