WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Michigan's top election official joined a bipartisan group of secretaries of state to testify on election security in front of a U.S. House Committee.
The Committee on House Administration hosted the oversight hearing on the nation's elections Wednesday.
The hearing, chaired by Congressman Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), brought the six secretaries of state together to testify on their state's preparedness for the upcoming election.
The secretaries of state invited to the hearing included Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
Benson's opening statement urged Congress to take action to protect its election workers from threats of violence, which she says have become common and widespread.
"I want to begin my remarks by emphasizing that we cannot of have a secure democracy if we do not protect the security of the people who administer our elections," Benson testified. "And right now, we are enduring unrelenting harassment and threats. People have come to my home. They have threatened me, my staff and many of the hundreds of clerks and election officials in our state."
Benson said that election officials in Michigan have an "omnipresent feeling of anxiety" from these threats. She added that the threats can be linked to the spread of misinformation on the security and accuracy of elections.
After opening statements, Steil began the questioning and asked Benson about a strategic plan for promoting access to voting, which was to be authored in response to an executive order from President Joe Biden.
Specifically, he asked about Michigan's unique position of having its Department of State entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide a link to register to vote.
Steil asked if Benson had seen a strategic plan put forward by the U.S. Small Business Administration in regards to its voter registration efforts as well as if the state of Michigan had any input into the strategic plan. Benson responded by saying she hadn't done anything other than her office entering into an MOU with the small business administration and providing a link to register voters.
After Steil yielded his time, Congressman Joe Morelle (D-New York) provided Benson with more time to expand on her answer to Steil.
"I will never apologize for doing everything I can to ensure every eligible citizen is registered to vote, and that involves partnerships. It involves partnerships with the Detroit Pistons. It involves partnerships with the Detroit Lions, with NASCAR, and yes, federal agencies who, if they ask us to provide them a unique URL so that someone can register to vote through their website into ours, we will do that because it's my responsibility and duty as the chief election officer for the state of Michigan, and it's one of the reasons we are ranked so high in the nation for being one of the best states in the country for voting," Benson said.
Morelle followed up by asking Benson to explain why unofficial election results from some locations may take longer to be counted than results in other locations.
"We count every valid vote in our state and only valid votes. Under our law, there are three options to vote in our state. Whether people vote from home and return their ballots through the mail, vote early and vote in person on Election Day. However someone chooses to vote, we have a responsibility to count that vote, and it does take time to do so," Benson testified. "And we'll never sacrifice accuracy and security and tabulating our votes, over efficiency. Although we understand the urgency of the moment and the fact that the eyes of the nation will often be on our state to deliver results, but our priority will always be ensuring their accuracy."
Benson added that she was proud of Michigan's 2020 election process, which had the unofficial results out to the public within 24 hours of the polls closing.
"And within that time period, we worked transparently to ensure that people understood we were securely and accurately counting every vote, and trying to do so and working with our clerks to do so as efficiently as possible," Benson added.
Benson was also asked about a lawsuit brought against her office over the allegations of violations of the National Voter Registration Act by not purging deceased voters from the state's voter rolls. She responded by pointing out that the lawsuit was dismissed with an opinion noting that Michigan had been one of the "most active states in cancelling the registrations of deceased individuals."
Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-California), circling back to Benson's opening statement regarding threats against her and her staff, later asked Benson how disinformation has impacted her office and election workers.
"The results of meritless requests and meritless accusations and false rhetoric is that people show up on my doorstep when I'm inside trying to hang Christmas decorations with my four year old son with screaming into a megaphone, you're a murderer and you should be arrested and tried for treason. That's the reality of all this. That's actually who it impacts, those of us who are just trying to do our jobs with integrity because we love our jobs," Benson testified.
Benson also pointed to the "power of evidence" when it comes to alleged election irregularities.
"That's really what I think has to be at the heart of any type of concerns that are expressed evidence of wrongdoing, evidence of irregularities. And when it comes to evidence in these most recent years, there has been none, despite multiple investigations and audits by committees in our state and many others," Benson said.
After about an hour of testimony from the six secretaries of state, the hearing concluded. You can watch the entire hearing here: