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Dem Michigan Secretary Of State: It Could Take A Week After Election Day For Final Results

   DailyWire.com
In this screenshot from the DNCC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson addresses the virtual convention on August 20, 2020.
DNCC via Getty Images

On Sunday, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press” with host Chuck Todd, Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson insisted that it could take a week after Election Day for all of Michigan’s ballots to be tallied, saying, “We should be prepared for this to be closer to an Election Week, as opposed to an Election Day.”

The conversation began with Todd asking, “Jocelyn Benson, what did you learn from Michigan’s experience? You ended up with a high volume of mail-in ballots. And obviously, you’ve gone through a whole bunch of election changes since 2016 that you’re going to be implementing for the first time. So give me your assessment of where you feel like Michigan is right now.”

“Well, yeah, Chuck, one of the silver linings of 2020 for us has been options for voters and opportunities to clarify those options,” Benson replied. “Voters in Michigan can vote early by mail. They can return ballots through a drop box. We’ve placed close to 1,000 secure drop boxes all around the state. They can vote early in person at their clerk’s office, and then every precinct will be open on Election Day. We’ve been able to hone this plan for November through three successful elections that we’ve had already this year where we’ve seen in every single one turnout has doubled, putting us on track to have Michigan’s November election be the highest turnout ever in the history of our state.”

Todd persisted, “I want to go to the postal service issue. You were pretty concerned about it at one time. Where are you now? Have you had reassurances from the postal service folks that you’ve dealt with since this kerfuffle began?”

“Well, yes. I mean, I have spoken directly with the postmaster general,” Benson agreed. “And we’ve been in near constant communication with our postmaster leaders and postal leaders on the ground here in Michigan. We’re approaching this from a two-pronged strategy. One is to make sure the system works, that citizens can receive their ballots and return them on time. We’ve created drop boxes as a workaround for citizens who may not feel comfortable or wait till the last minute to return their ballots.”

“But we’re now also facing a perception issue,” she continued. “That the changes in the postal service, if nothing else, have created confusion and chaos where none existed prior. And so, the voter education and the confidence-boosting we now have to do and will do to ensure voters feel confident that their vote is sent through the mail and will count is a key part of our work moving forward.”

Todd asked, “You guys can’t start processing until Election Day. It took a long time to get some results during your primary. Should we be prepared for Thanksgiving and the Michigan results to be coming together?”

Benson answered, “No, but we should be prepared for this to be closer to an Election Week, as opposed to an Election Day. I mean, the bottom line is we are not going to have the full results and a counting of all of our ballots on Election Night. We already know that. We’ve asked the legislature to make changes to the law to give us more ability to be prepared and count those ballots more efficiently. They have not acted for reasons that I don’t fully, completely understand. But that said, we’re increasing tabulators. We’re increasing capacity to more efficiently and securely count those ballots. But I’m also laser-focused on accuracy. And if it takes a few extra days to ensure we have a full and accurate counting of the results of every race, that’s what it’s going to take. And we’re going to be transparent throughout that whole process to make sure every citizen knows exactly where we are in the counting process and how many more ballots we have to get through.”

At the Democratic National Convention, Benson joined California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to speak on a video where Padilla stated, “But now, Trump has admitted he’s trying to sabotage the post office to undermine voting-by-mail. And we’re not gonna let him do that.”

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