GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "I think it's important to remember, even in a moment like this—and it's certainly going to get a lot noisier in Michigan over these next seven weeks—that we take incredible pride in the safety, the accuracy and the security of our elections, and we want voters to share in that pride."
That's how the current scene surrounding elections in this key battleground state were described on this National Voter Registration Day by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
In recent years, Benson has sought to establish herself as a figurehead of the assertion that the state's election systems are secure.
"Our system is really rooted in transparency and redundancy, meaning there are many records, many security layers to ensure that only valid citizens are able to vote in our elections," Benson said.
Speaking with 13 ON YOUR SIDE on Tuesday, Benson discussed issues including certification of election results, which became a highlight of concern in the aftermath of the 2020 elections and more recently during this election cycle in places like Georgia.
She described the process as a ministerial sign-off of unofficial results tallied by local clerks and elections equipment.
"All of that is presented to the canvassing boards, and they look at and and sort of gives a thumbs up to say, in a very ministerial administrative way, 'You did your math correctly,' and that's kind of the extent of the certification process," Benson explained. "Then after that comes audits and potential recounts and other opportunities to actually do a deeper dive into the processes themselves and the elections and all the rest that many people, really, I think, need in a moment like this, where there have been questions about our elections."
But in the shadow of this Voter Registration Day, Benson's office itself has faced concerns this year over election integrity and the number of registered voters in the state.
State officials have faced multiple lawsuits over allegations pertaining to actions taken—or allegedly not taken—as part of the state's elections process.
To that end, Benson was questioned during a congressional hearing last week in which one member of the committee pressed her on what he viewed as bloated voter rolls.
Benson responded on Tuesday by saying she acknowledges questions and concerns, and has worked to ensure increased accuracy of the rolls.
"We did that by actually doing more than ever before to increase the accuracy of our voter rolls—doing a mailing to everyone who is registered to make sure everyone is still in their places, or if they have moved," Benson said. "We can use that mailing to remove ineligible voters. We also now do more frequent checks with the Social Security Administration and other places where, if someone passes away, we get that information more frequently and can update our rolls."
But, as of earlier this year, the efforts of Benson's office and others weren't satisfactory for everyone. In some people's view, such efforts didn't even pass legal muster.
In March, the Republican National Committee sued Benson and the state's Bureau of Elections director in an effort to force the state to purge inactive voters from Michigan's voter registration records.
The lawsuit alleged that Michigan was in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and that Michigan had failed to meet the requirements of one of its sections.
"Because Defendants do not maintain accurate voter rolls, [the plaintiff] reasonably fears that ineligible voters can and do vote in Michigan elections," the lawsuit alleged. "Those votes will dilute his legitimate vote. And Michigan’s inaccurate rolls undermine [the plaintiff]'s confidence in the integrity of Michigan elections, which also burdens his right to vote."
Seeking to clarify, Benson told 13 ON YOUR SIDE the law demands that correcting potentially inaccurate rolls take time.
"If someone has passed away, we can remove them right away," Benson said. "But if someone has moved or just hasn't voted in a few years, we, under federal law, have to wait for two federal cycles for them to not vote in order to legally be able to remove them from the rolls. However, once we identify someone that we believe has moved, we mark them as 'inactive.'"
"That means, essentially, they are inactive and would have to, if they choose to reactivate as voters, have to show ID and actually prove that their residency is still with where they registered to vote long ago," she continued. "And so, once someone's on the 'inactive' list, they're essentially on a countdown, and unless they vote in the next two federal cycles, they are removed. And in Michigan, we have a number of hundreds of thousands of people who are 'inactive.'"
As of Tuesday evening, the state's Voter Information Center cited a total of 8,407,889 registered voters in Michigan. 345,729 registrations, it reported, are "inactive" registrations set for cancellation in 2025. 269,089 additional "inactive" registrations, it said, were slated for cancellation in 2027.
Should that number of "inactive" registrations be removed as scheduled, that would place the number of registered Michigan voters at 7,793,071 by 2027—or roughly 98% of what was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics to be the population aged 18 or older in Michigan in 2022.
In addition to such concerns, Benson also addressed what she has said have been threats and intimidation targeted at her, her staff and local election officials.
"I'm human," Benson said. "I'm also a mom, and I have to prepare my son for what the impact of these threats could mean to our family, and not just me, to our staff as well. So, that's very real, and we're in an era both of misinformation and an era of political violence, and there's a direct link between that misinformation around our elections and violence and threats to our election officials."
But as America and one of its most critical swing states head into the final stretch before the November election, Benson said such a landscape does not deter her.
"I'm committed to making sure the law is followed and that our elections are secure, and that no matter who someone votes for, they can vote and have confidence that the results are accurate and any threats that come my way, I'm happy to stand in the face of it," Benson said. "It's an unfortunate reality of our work today, but it is one that has emboldened many of us to be even more committed to doing our jobs with professionalism and with pride."
Previous reporting from Steven Bohner contributed to this report.