Michigan’s top elections official is warning campaigns and candidates against trying any funny business as a contentious primary season comes to a close with an election on Tuesday.
Jocelyn Benson, the Michigan Secretary of State, made the declaration in an interview with The Detroit News in which she echoed comments she has made on social media in the past several days.
“Any attempts to block the certification of our elections, regardless of the results, will be futile,” she told the news outlet.
On Twitter last week, she added: “Met today with pastors & community leaders in Flint, Saginaw, Detroit, Southfield & Pontiac to discuss preparations for Tuesday’s primary. With these important partnerships we’re ready to counter misinformation & prepared to block illegal attempts to interfere with our elections.”
Her remarks would seem alarmist were it not for the fact that five Republican candidates previously running in the gubernatorial primary were kicked off Tuesday’s ballot. The move took place after an investigation revealed that some of the signatures they used for official petitions to launch their campaigns were fraudulent.
There’s also the fact that some candidates running in Tuesday’s primary still contest the results of the 2020 election — including a Republican candidate challenging Congressman Peter Meijer, John Gibbs, whose campaign has been boosted by ad spending from Democrats hoping to run a candidate against Mr Gibbs instead of the incumbent in November.
Michigan is one of several states the Trump campaign attacked with baseless allegations of election fraud in 2020. Most of the campaign’s allegations in Michigan were centered in Wayne County, where turnout from Detroit’s Black majority boosted Joe Biden to victory past Donald Trump.
Ms Benson herself is running for reelection in November, and at least one of the Republicans running in Tuesday’s primary race to challenge her was active in the effort to spread false allegations of fraud regarding the 2020 election.
