The Republican National Committee and Michigan Republican Party have filed another lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, accusing her of violating state law by failing to instruct election clerks to reject certain absentee ballots.
This is the second state court complaint filed this month by the RNC, following an earlier suit challenging Benson's guidance on signature verification.
The latest complaint focuses on the numbered, perforated stubs attached to absentee ballots and how clerks should handle ballots where the number on the stub doesn’t match the number recorded in poll books. Michigan law requires election clerks and inspectors to reject absentee ballots if the stub is missing or if the number on the stub does not match the one in the poll book or on the ballot return envelope.
Poll books, which are databases of eligible voters, help election workers verify a voter’s identity and ballot. The plaintiffs argue that Benson’s guidance instructs clerks to process ballots with missing or mismatched stubs as “challenged” ballots, rather than abiding by state law and rejecting them. The lawsuit claims that under Benson's guidance, these challenged ballots may still be counted.
According to state law, election inspectors must ensure the number on the ballot stub matches the number recorded in the poll book and verify that the ballot returned is the same one issued to the voter. If the numbers do not match, the ballot is supposed to be marked as rejected.
The lawsuit points to Benson’s February guidance, which advises election inspectors to “verify” that the number on the ballot stub matches the number recorded in the poll book. If no explanation for a discrepancy is found, the ballot is to be processed as a challenged ballot rather than being immediately rejected.
Read the lawsuit here.
