{"id":2209375,"date":"2024-03-29T17:58:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-files-another-election-related-lawsuit-against-democrat-michigan-secretary-of-state\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T17:58:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:58:27","slug":"rnc-files-another-election-related-lawsuit-against-democrat-michigan-secretary-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-files-another-election-related-lawsuit-against-democrat-michigan-secretary-of-state\/","title":{"rendered":"RNC Sues Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Over Election Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Frnc-files-another-election-related-lawsuit-against-democrat-michigan-secretary-of-state%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=2209375&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>The Republican National Committee has filed a lawsuit against\u200b Michigan&#8217;s Democratic \u2062Secretary\u2064 of State, Jocelyn Benson, \u2062alleging\u2064 that she issued secret instructions to election officials\u2063 to presume\u200c the validity\u200b of absentee voter\u200c signatures. The lawsuit aims to ensure adherence to Michigan&#8217;s State Constitution regarding\u2062 the verification of\u2064 absentee \u2063ballot identities, highlighting concerns about election integrity.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/republican-national-committee-rnc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Republican National Committee<\/a> filed another election-related lawsuit against Democratic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/michigan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michigan<\/a> Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over her enforcement of signature verification law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/prod-static.gop.com\/media\/documents\/Summonses_Verified_Complaint_and_Exhibits_1711648258.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>, filed on Thursday, says that Benson directed local election officials before the February 2024 presidential primary election to presume that an absentee voter\u2019s signature was legitimate. The RNC <a href=\"https:\/\/gop.com\/press-release\/rnc-sues-michigan-secretary-of-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">described<\/a> this directive as \u201csecret instructions\u201d that were given \u201coutside the public eye.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMichigan\u2019s State Constitution is very clear: election officials have to verify the identity of voters casting absentee ballots,\u201d RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement. \u201cJocelyn Benson is yet again working to undermine election integrity by secretly instructing officials to disregard and circumvent these clear requirements. The RNC is suing Benson because Michiganders deserve election integrity, not underhanded Democrat schemes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The lawsuit said that the presumption of validity undercut state law requiring verification of absentee ballot signatures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhile the Michigan Constitution expressly mandates that election officials \u2018verify the identity\u2019 of any voter who applies for an absent voter ballot or who votes an absent voter ballot other than in person by completing the signature comparison scheme outlined above, see Const 1963, art 2, \u00a7 4(1)(h), the Secretary has instructed local election officials to apply a \u2018presumption of validity\u2019 to those signatures,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The suit was filed in Michigan state court by the RNC, the Michigan Republican Party, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and several Michigan voters. The plaintiffs want Benson\u2019s actions to be declared unlawful and they want a judge to make her retract her Signature Verification Instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Similar instructions from Benson before the November 2020 election <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2021\/03\/15\/judge-rules-secretary-state-bensons-ballot-signature-verification-guidance-invalid\/4699927001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were ruled<\/a> \u201cinvalid\u201d in March 2021 with a state judge saying that Benson had acted outside of the law. Michigan is again expected to be a hotly contested state with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump gearing up for a rematch.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this month, the RNC filed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/rnc-sues-michigan-secretary-of-state-over-inflated-voter-rolls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">another lawsuit<\/a> against Benson, accusing her office of maintaining inaccurate voter rolls.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/prod-static.gop.com\/media\/documents\/1_Complaint_1710344302.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">lawsuit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, at least 53 counties in Michigan have more active registered voters than adult citizens over the age of 18. According to the RNC, the number of counties with registration rates above 100% ballooned after 2020, when only one county had that rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The suit also said that 23 counties have voter-registration rates of over 90% of eligible adults registered, which is far above the average national and statewide rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under Whatley\u2019s leadership, the RNC hired two new election-focused lawyers, Charlie Spies, who will serve as the RNC\u2019s chief counsel, and Christina Bobb, a Trump campaign lawyer who has challenged the outcome of the 2020 election. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GOP sued MI Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a new election-related case over her handling of signature verification laws. They claim she instructed officials to assume absentee voter signatures were valid before the 2024 primary. The RNC criticized this move as potentially compromising election integrity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2209376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-2031351098.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-2031351098.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209375","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\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}