RNC, Michigan GOP sue Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over primary election ballot counting

The Republican National Committee and Michigan Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) for allegedly violating state law with the guidance she issued for counting absentee ballots during the primary election.

The lawsuit, which the RNC announced Tuesday, alleges that while Michigan law requires absentee ballot stub numbers to match the numbers in the poll book or on the ballot return envelope to be tabulated, Benson issued contradictory guidance.

She instructed "local clerks and election inspectors to process and tabulate absent voter ballots where the stub is missing or the number on the stub does not match the number in the poll book or on the ballot return envelope as 'challenged' ballots rather than reject them as required by Michigan law," according to the lawsuit.

During the August primary election, RNC Election Integrity staff witnessed the tabulation of absentee ballots without stub numbers.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Benson's guidance "is inconsistent with the Michigan Constitution and the Michigan Election Law and therefore invalid and unenforceable" and have her change it to instruct "local election officials and election inspectors to reject absent voter ballots where the ballot stub is missing or the ballot number does not match the number recorded on the ballot return envelope and poll list."

"Secretary Benson continues to expose Michigan’s elections to cheating and fraud, forcing Republicans to file suit again to protect the vote for Michiganders," RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. "We will continue our efforts to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in Michigan - and around the country - through November 5."

"Suing our Secretary of State to enforce the law she swore an oath to uphold is becoming commonplace in Michigan, because the Michigan Republican Party and the Republican National Committee are committed to ensuring the integrity and security of our elections," Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra said in a statement. "Ballot number matching is a law on the books because it's a simple safeguard to protect Michiganders' fundamental right to vote."

"While Benson continues to circumvent our election laws for her own political agenda, we will fight tirelessly so Michiganders have no doubts when they start to go to the polls," he added.