Jocelyn Benson

Voters have everywhere an opportunity to choose to elect secretaries of state from either side of the political spectrum, who will do their jobs with integrity, from a nonpartisan standpoint.

What’s problematic here is that these individuals are being fed misinformation and potentially being prepared to interfere with the elections processes themselves.

Even the president himself had called on me to be arrested and tried for treason, potentially executed.

The chief election officer in the state has a responsibility to ensure, no matter where someone lives or who they vote for or what the results of the election are, that they stand, that the will of the people is protected.

It’s so important for us to not just ensure truth continues to emerge as to just how far folks were willing to go to overturn a free and fair election just because they didn’t like the results. Because we not only need to see justice and…

It’s all about accountability at this point, knowing and allowing the entire truth of who was involved to unfold.

Candidates don’t get to choose electors. Voters choose the electors.

This was all unprecedented. That`s why it`s important for us not to just ensure truth continues to emerge as to just how far folks were willing to go to overturn a free and fair election just because they didn`t like the results.

These statewide roles are pivotal. And democracy is ability to survive in the future will be determined by who wins and loses this November.

We go to court to force them to do their jobs and follow the law. And that’s exactly what will happen if that occurs in future elections, it’s what happened in 2020.

In Michigan, we have a very decentralized system of elections, which is good because it ensures that we have over 1,600 clerks administering the process elected or appointed at the local level.

I`m committed to ensuring that these attacks on democracy are unsuccessful, both in 2022 and beyond.

In 2020, democracy ultimately prevailed. The will of the people was protected, because good people on both sides of the aisle did the right thing and they followed the truth and the facts and they stood up to the conspiracy theorists.

The sanctions awarded today, they send an important message that if you blatantly misuse your authority and abuse the legal system to manipulate the public into thinking that our elections are anything but safe and secure, you`ll face…

I and many others on both sides of the aisle who see it as our responsibility to defend democracy, we’re going to keep doing everything we can to ensure everyone can vote and that we can trust the results of that election.

This big lie has become the foundation not just for hundreds of laws that have made it harder to vote, but also for laws empowering partisan officials to interfere with the counting of the votes, with the professional administration of…

We need this force, this network that is being created to protect and defend all of those thousands of election administrators all across the country who are living in fear right now against these ongoing threats, not just these violent…

What we now need to do is ensure that these pernicious lies promoted by bad actors, be they candidates or others who are unhappy with the results sees and are repeated or escalated in future elections.

The only fraud that really did occur in our election was the fraud, lying and the misinformation about and misrepresentation about the truth and the integrity and security of our elections.

Everything that’s happening now in Arizona and elsewhere, to change the rules and make it harder to vote, it’s all about really continuing this effort to undermine democracy through the next presidential election.

These individuals who are pushing for more fake audits around the country are really just trying to undermine democracy and threaten the security of our elections.

Until again, there’s real accountability at the ballot box for Republican leaders who have continued to spread these lies, we’re going to see these efforts to continue, to undermine people’s faith in the process.

There's been no accountability for the politicians who are connected to January 6 then tragedy in our U.S. Capitol, there's been no accountability for politicians who continue to spread the big lie.

What shows the connection between what happened after the 2020 election and what is continuing to escalate in new battle friends around the country in a new ways. And Anderson, I think it's really important to note, this is no longer about…

I believe everything we saw and endured and survived in 2020 will be back again in 2022 and in stronger forces in 2024 by those forces who sought to undermine democracy in 2020 will be back.