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The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Michigan GOP (MIGOP) secured another major victory for election integrity against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The lawsuit prevailed to ensure that mail ballots are cast and counted properly during the upcoming election.
“The RNC applauds the finding by the Court requiring Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to follow Michigan law requiring ballot number matching, which comes after Benson admitted that her illegal guidance opened the door to fraud,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.
“Ballot number matching requirements are commonsense safeguards which make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. We will not stop fighting for a secure election in Michigan and across the country,” he added.
Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra also released a statement following the legal victory.
“Our lawsuit was once again what it took to force Jocelyn Benson to follow Michigan’s election laws and ensure that Michiganders can be confident in our electoral process. Ballot number matching requirements are a simple way to protect the integrity of our elections, and Michiganders deserve that peace of mind,” he wrote.
Last month, the RNC Benson for her “improper guidance to election officials—instructing local clerks and election inspectors to process and count mail ballots with missing stub numbers,” according to the RNC’s statement.
The court determined that the secretary’s improper guidance regarding the handling and counting of absentee ballots needs to be rectified. They also urged the secretary to monitor this information to enhance transparency and provide voters with important insights into election security.
Benson acknowledged during the hearing that mismatched serial numbers on ballots could indicate potential voter fraud.
The case follows a recent election integrity win for the RNC in North Carolina. The RNC and North Carolina GOP stood against the State Board of Elections for unlawfully allowing digital student IDs as a valid form of voter identification. The court sided in favor of the RNC.
“When the NCSBE majority wrongly approved use of this so-called Digital ID, we said we would not stand for it. This lawsuit will ensure that Voter ID laws are faithfully followed in North Carolina elections,” NCGOP Chairman Jason Simmons wrote in a statement.