{"id":2318258,"date":"2024-08-02T13:41:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michiganders-asked-to-report-their-neighbors-for-election-misinfo\/"},"modified":"2024-08-02T13:49:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T17:49:42","slug":"michiganders-asked-to-report-their-neighbors-for-election-misinfo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michiganders-asked-to-report-their-neighbors-for-election-misinfo\/","title":{"rendered":"Michiganders Asked To Report Their Neighbors For Election &#8216;Misinfo&#8217;"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fmichiganders-asked-to-report-their-neighbors-for-election-misinfo%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=2318258&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>Michigan Secretary of State \u200bJocelyn Benson is urging residents to report misinformation related to \u200bthe upcoming November election. She highlights the threat that inaccurate\u200b information poses to election security\u2064 and encourages the public to email reports along with any relevant images to \u200da designated address if they encounter such misinformation. Her office released\u200c documents labeling misinformation as a serious \u200ddanger to democracy, attributing\u200b its spread to various opportunistic individuals and groups. The documents call on citizens to actively \u2064confront misinformation and report it.<\/p>\n<p>Benson&#8217;s office provides sources for &#8220;trusted&#8221; information, directing residents to their own fact-checking resources as well as third-party\u200b fact-checkers like FactCheck.org, \u2062PolitiFact, and Snopes, which have been criticized by some for \u2064bias. \u200cRecently, she \u200dlaunched a &#8220;Democracy Ambassador&#8221; program, inviting \u200cresidents to receive and disseminate approved information\u200d to counter misinformation within their\u2062 communities. Despite these initiatives, Benson has faced criticism regarding election integrity and the integrity of associated resources, such as Vote411, which has been alleged to participate in data harvesting favoring leftist causes.  <\/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<div>\n<p>Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is encouraging residents to report so-called &ldquo;misinformation&rdquo; from their neighbors ahead of November&rsquo;s election.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Misinformation about the election process, voter rights, or even an issue on the ballot is a serious threat to election security,&rdquo; reads an online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/-\/media\/Project\/Websites\/sos\/Elections\/Clerk-toolkit\/Educational\/MDOS_ElectionMisinformation.pdf?rev=078a8ecdc8cc4d67acb0c774e4e3e82f&amp;hash=E1078EC3435D64D3CF1F9EB0C9F3474C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">document<\/a> from Benson&rsquo;s office. &ldquo;If you see misleading or inaccurate information regarding voting or elections in Michigan, please report it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The document requests residents email reports of election &ldquo;misinformation&rdquo; &ndash; with &ldquo;an image if possible&rdquo; &ndash; to misinformation@michigan.gov. Benson&rsquo;s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/elections\/voter-education-resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">solicits<\/a> residents to report misinformation on its &ldquo;voter education resources&rdquo; page.<\/p>\n<p>The Federalist asked Benson&rsquo;s office who this email reaches and how the state responds to alleged &ldquo;misinformation,&rdquo; but her office did not comment in time for publication.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Benson&rsquo;s office published another document discussing this so-called election &ldquo;misinformation,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/-\/media\/Project\/Websites\/sos\/Elections\/Clerk-toolkit\/Talking-points\/Misinformation-and-AI.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">calling<\/a> it &ldquo;the most potentially damaging threat to our democracy.&rdquo; It blamed &ldquo;partisans, grifters, and other opportunists here at home&rdquo; for &ldquo;hacking the minds of American citizens,&rdquo; and called on residents to enforce the official narrative.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Citizens can and should join this effort,&rdquo; the document reads, &ldquo;calling out misinformation when they see it and insisting that we hold people accountable for spreading lies about elections.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>For &ldquo;trusted&rdquo; information, Benson&rsquo;s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/-\/media\/Project\/Websites\/sos\/Elections\/Clerk-toolkit\/Educational\/MDOS_ElectionMisinformation.pdf?rev=078a8ecdc8cc4d67acb0c774e4e3e82f&amp;hash=E1078EC3435D64D3CF1F9EB0C9F3474C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refers<\/a> residents to its own &ldquo;fact check&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/faqs\/elections-and-campaign-finance\/fact-checks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">page<\/a>, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and Snopes. The latter three have shown their colors as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2016\/12\/29\/politifact-slants-truth-ratings-republicans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">leftist<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/07\/30\/left-wing-fact-checker-snopes-is-trying-to-deplatform-babylon-bee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">information<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/04\/30\/factcheck-org-wrong-californias-lgbt-therapy-ban-ban-bibles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gatekeepers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Benson, a Democrat, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/resources\/news\/2024\/07\/23\/secretary-benson-become-a-democracy-ambassador-for-2024-elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a> a &ldquo;Democracy Ambassador&rdquo; program for residents last week, according to a press release. The state sends supposedly &ldquo;nonpartisan facts and resources&rdquo; to residents who join, and it encourages them to share these approved messages &ldquo;within their communities&rdquo; where they will &ldquo;combat any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/secret-censors-babylon-bee-ceo-thinks-facebook-is-moving-beyond-news-to-suppress-wrong-kind-of-comedy\/\" title=\"Secret Censors: Babylon Bee CEO Thinks Facebook Is Moving Beyond News to Suppress Wrong Kind Of Comedy\">election-related misinformation<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Participants will &ldquo;squash misinformation before it spreads,&rdquo; Benson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/resources\/news\/2024\/07\/23\/secretary-benson-become-a-democracy-ambassador-for-2024-elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> in the press release.<\/p>\n<p>The state&rsquo;s &ldquo;Democracy Ambassador&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/elections\/voter-education-resources\/democracy-ambassador#Resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webpage<\/a> says the program consists of three steps: sign up to receive approved information, share that information, and sign up to be a poll worker.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel spoke to journalists last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/ag\/news\/press-releases\/2024\/07\/29\/ag-nessel-emphasizes-election-integrity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">emphasizing<\/a> &ldquo;collaboration&rdquo; between officials and the media in her effort to &ldquo;eliminate misinformation from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platforms<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Benson has come under fire recently for a host of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-sues-pennsylvania-for-planning-to-illegally-accept-undated-mail-in-ballots\/\" title=\"RNC Sues Pennsylvania for Planning to Illegally Accept Undated Mail-in Ballots\">election integrity failures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Under &ldquo;voting initiatives and resources,&rdquo; Benson&rsquo;s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/sos\/elections\/voter-education-resources\/democracy-ambassador#Resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">directs<\/a> residents to Vote411 &ndash; which, as The Federalist previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/01\/vote411-feeds-voter-info-to-leftist-data-harvesting-machine-while-masquerading-as-nonpartisan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, feeds voter information to a leftist data harvesting scheme. The Federalist asked Benson&rsquo;s office for comment on Vote411&rsquo;s alleged data harvesting, but her office did not comment in time for publication.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Benson also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/01\/why-is-michigans-secretary-of-state-working-with-election-meddler-david-becker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hosted<\/a> David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research at a press conference Monday. Alongside the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which gave at least <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/01\/sources-missouri-ag-stopped-working-on-investigation-into-zuckbucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$328 million<\/a> in &ldquo;Zuckbucks&rdquo; in 2020, CEIR funneled $70 million from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to local election agencies, advancing voting practices that favor the left.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In December last year, Benson issued a manual instructing clerks that absentee ballot signatures were entitled to a &ldquo;presumption of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/13\/judge-michigan-secretary-of-states-lax-ballot-signature-guidance-is-unconstitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">validity<\/a>.&rdquo; A Michigan judge struck down the guidance as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/31\/michigan-judge-shuts-down-secretary-of-states-lax-ballot-signature-guidance-for-good\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unconstitutional<\/a> in a final order on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>And in a demand letter to Benson in May, the Republican National Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/29\/from-dead-registrants-to-inactive-mail-voters-complaints-highlight-michigans-voter-roll-mess\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">alleged<\/a> that she failed to clean the voter rolls of 92,000 inactive registrants.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-clark-county-keeps-commercial-addresses-on-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Lawsuit: Clark County Keeps Commercial Addresses On Voter Rolls\">staff writer covering election integrity<\/a>. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is urging residents to report any alleged &#8220;misinformation&#8221; from their neighbors in the lead-up to the November election. An online document from her office states, \u201cMisinformation regarding the election process, voter rights, or ballot issues poses a significant risk to election security.\u201d It encourages individuals to report misleading or incorrect information about voting or elections in Michigan by emailing misinformation@michigan.gov, ideally including an image. Benson&#8217;s office has also created a page dedicated to voter education resources where residents can submit such reports.<\/p>\n<p>The Federalist inquired about who receives these emails and how the state addresses claims of &#8220;misinformation,&#8221; but did not receive a response before publication. Another document released by Benson\u2019s office labeled this so-called election &#8220;misinformation&#8221; as potentially one of the most damaging threats to democracy. It attributed this issue to \u201cpartisans, grifters, and other opportunists\u201d manipulating public perception and urged citizens to uphold official narratives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCitizens can and should participate in this effort,\u201d stated the document, encouraging them to identify misinformation and hold those spreading falsehoods accountable. For reliable information, Benson\u2019s office directs residents to its own fact-checking page as well as FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and Snopes\u2014organizations that have been criticized for their left-leaning biases.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, Benson launched a \u201cDemocracy Ambassador\u201d program aimed at providing residents with supposedly nonpartisan facts and resources while encouraging them to disseminate these messages within their communities as a means of countering any election-related misinformation. Participants are expected to help prevent misinformation from spreading.<\/p>\n<p>The program involves three steps: signing up for approved information updates, sharing that information with others, and volunteering as poll workers. Additionally, Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel highlighted last month her commitment towards collaboration between officials and media outlets in efforts aimed at eradicating misinformation on social media platforms.<\/p>\n<p>However, Benson has faced criticism over various issues related to election integrity. Under her section on voting initiatives and resources is Vote411\u2014a platform previously reported by The Federalist for being part of a left-leaning data collection initiative\u2014yet no comment was provided by her office regarding these allegations when requested.<\/p>\n<p>Benson also hosted David Becker from the Center for Election Innovation and Research at a recent press conference; CEIR has been involved with organizations like the Center for Tech and Civic Life which distributed substantial funds during past elections that favored Democratic practices.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2022,Benson issued guidance stating that absentee ballot signatures should be presumed valid; however,a Michigan judge later deemed this guidance unconstitutional.In May,the Republican National Committee sent a demand letter alleging she had neglectedto remove 92 thousand inactive voters from registration rolls.Logan Washburn is an author focused on electoral integrity issues; he graduated from Hillsdale Collegeand has contributed articlesto several publicationsincluding The Wall Street Journaland The Daily Caller.Logan hailsfrom Central Oregon but currently residesin rural Michigan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2318259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-02-at-1.20.11%E2%80%AFPM-1024x548.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[7380,37032,3728,4601],"class_list":["post-2318258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-misinformation","tag-community-engagement","tag-election","tag-michigan"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-02-at-1.20.11%E2%80%AFPM-1024x548.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318258","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\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2318259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}