{"id":1725002,"date":"2022-11-04T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T15:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1725002"},"modified":"2022-11-04T12:18:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T16:18:51","slug":"plaintiffs-ask-judge-to-find-michigan-secretary-of-state-in-contempt-of-court-for-failing-to-correct-election-guidance-manual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/plaintiffs-ask-judge-to-find-michigan-secretary-of-state-in-contempt-of-court-for-failing-to-correct-election-guidance-manual\/","title":{"rendered":"Plaintiffs Ask Judge to Find Michigan Secretary of State in Contempt of Court for Failing to Correct Election Guidance Manual"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fplaintiffs-ask-judge-to-find-michigan-secretary-of-state-in-contempt-of-court-for-failing-to-correct-election-guidance-manual%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1725002&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Michigan Court of Claims judge has been asked to declare Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, in contempt of court for noncompliance with a court order.<\/p>\n<p>The filing also requests that the court enforce the injunction it issued on Oct. 20, ordering Benson to correct the guidance she provided to state and local election officials that the court found didn\u2019t comply with Michigan law.<\/p>\n<p>The court also found that the guidance she issued didn\u2019t have the force and effect of law.<\/p>\n<p>Benson\u2019s guidance came largely in the form of an election operation manual written in May and revised in June.<\/p>\n<p>The emergency motion was filed on Nov. 2 with a requested deadline of 5 p.m. on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n<p>Late in the day on Nov. 2, Court of Claims Judge Brock Swartzle issued an order granting immediate consideration of the plaintiffs\u2019 motion.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3574067\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/11\/11\/Detroit-1200x787.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-3574067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Detroit-600x393-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"393\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3574067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Detroit-600x393-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"393\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Poll workers board up windows of the ballot counting area at the TCF Center in Detroit on Nov. 4, 2020. (Seth Herald\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>Swartzle gave Benson until noon on Nov. 3 to respond to the plaintiffs\u2019 emergency motion requesting enforcement of the injunction ordering her to make the corrections in her guidance and the requested contempt citation.<\/p>\n<p>The five plaintiffs, known collectively as O\u2019Halloran et al., are a group of citizens concerned about protecting the rights of challengers and poll watchers from infringement by Benson\u2019s nonconforming or extra-legal guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan Republican Party and the Republican National Committee have joined the suit as plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<p>The Elias Law Group, founded by nationally known Democrat strategist Marc Elias, was recently added to the defense team representing Benson.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs contend that the rules imposed by Benson are barriers to effective ballot counting observation in the fast-approaching election.<\/p>\n<p>The Oct. 20 court order directed Benson to correct her guidance that the court found reduced the grounds for ballot challenges, created the requirement for an additional credential form for poll challengers, banned election challengers from being appointed on Election Day, restricted challengers to speaking only to certain election workers, and prohibited cellphones in absentee ballot counting areas.<\/p>\n<p>With the Nov. 8 election just days away, the plaintiffs allege in the emergency motion that Benson \u201cmade no effort whatsoever to correct\u201d the manual.<\/p>\n<p>They allege that, as of Nov. 2, Benson\u2019s noncompliant guidance was still posted on her office\u2019s website and had the potential of \u201cluring\u201d local election officials and challengers into believing that the guidance was appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than immediately correcting the errors outlined in the court\u2019s findings, on Oct. 21 Benson\u2019s lawyers asked the Court of Appeals for an emergency stay of the injunction pending appeal.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 28, Benson attempted to bypass the Court of Appeals by going directly to the state Supreme Court for an expedited ruling.<\/p>\n<p>Neither of the higher courts have responded to Benson\u2019s pleadings.<\/p>\n<p>The election integrity watchdog group Michigan Grassroots Alliance alleged in a Nov. 2 statement that Benson is trying to delay issuing \u201clawful guidelines\u201d until after the Nov. 8 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBenson appears to be attempting to foment conflict at the polls and absentee vote counting boards. The only rational conclusion \u2026 is that she intends to violate the law during the election that features her as one of the candidates on the ballot,\u201d the Alliance stated.<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan Secretary of State\u2019s Office doesn\u2019t comment on ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n<p>Benson has lost several recent court fights over election integrity issues.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s currently battling a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-lawsuit\">lawsuit<\/a> by the Public Interest Legal Foundation to force her to remove the names of 25,000 dead people from the state\u2019s voter roll.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-steven-kovac\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/WEB_StevenKovac.jpg\" alt=\"Steven Kovac\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steven Kovac reports for the National Team from Michigan. He is a former small businessman, local elected official, and conservative political activist. Steven is an ordained minister of the Gospel. He and his wife of 33 years have two grown children. He can be reached at steven.kovac@epochtimes.us<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Michigan Court of Claims judge has been asked to declare Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, in contempt of court for noncompliance with a court order.The filing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1723309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1725002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1725002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1723309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1725002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1725002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1725002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}