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→Secretary of State of Michigan
===Tenure===
===Tenure===
Benson got into a feud with [[President Trump]] in May 2020 over statewide mail-in voting, a measure often linked to election fraudulence.<ref>[https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/05/trump-attacks-michigan-secretary-of-state-with-false-claim-benson-quickly-responds.html Trump attacks Michigan Secretary of State with false claim; Benson quickly responds]</ref>
Benson got into a feud with [[President Trump]] in May 2020 over statewide mail-in voting, a measure often linked to election fraudulence.<ref>[https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/05/trump-attacks-michigan-secretary-of-state-with-false-claim-benson-quickly-responds.html Trump attacks Michigan Secretary of State with false claim; Benson quickly responds]</ref>
===2020 election fraud===
Excerpts from ''Trump v. Michigan Board of State Canvassers, Wayne County, and Wayne County Board of County Canvassarers'' filing.<ref>https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/1.-11-10-20-trump-v.-benson-w.d.-mich.-complaint-final.pdf</ref>
====COUNT I - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and the corollary clause of Michigan’s Constitution====
Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the United States Constitution and the corollary clause of Michigan’s Constitution.
76. The [[Fourteenth Amendment]] to the United States Constitution provides “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” See also
''[[Bush v. Gore]]'', 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000) (“Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”); ''Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections'', 383 U.S. 663, 665, (1966) (“Once the franchise is granted to the electorate, lines may not be drawn which are inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”).
77. Wayne County’s failure to allow challengers and its counting of ineligible and illegal ballots that did not comply with the Michigan Election Code diluted the lawful ballots of these plaintiffs and of other Michigan voters and electors in violation of the United States Constitution and the Michigan Constitution guarantee of equal protection.
78. [[President Trump]]’s campaign committee and these Michigan voters and challengers seek declaratory and injunctive relief requiring Secretary Benson to direct that Wayne County allow a reasonable number of challengers to meaningfully observe the conduct of the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers and that these canvassing boards exercise their duty and authority under Michigan law, which forbids certifying a tally that includes any ballots that were not legally cast.
79. In addition, President Trump’s campaign committee and these Michigan voters and challengers ask this Court to order that no ballot processed by a counting board in Wayne County can be included in the final vote tally unless a challenger was allowed to meaningfully observe the process and the handling and counting of the ballot.
80. Secretary Benson violated these Michigan voters’ right to equal protection by allowing Wayne County to process and count ballots in a manner that allowed ineligible ballots to be counted and by not requiring Wayne County to conduct the general election in a uniform manner as required by Michigan’s Election Code as was done in other jurisdictions.
====COUNT II - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the rights of these Michigan voters under the federal Elections and Electors Clauses.====
81. The Electors Clause states that “[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors” for President. U.S. Const. art. II, §1, cl. 2 (emphasis added).
82. Likewise, the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that “[t]he Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” U.S. Const. art. I, §4, cl. 1 (emphasis added).
83. Michigan statutes enacted by the legislature protect the purity and integrity of elections by allowing ballot challengers to monitor the counting and processing of absentee ballots. Wayne County and Secretary Benson violated this statutory guarantee by preventing Republican challengers from meaningfully observing and participating in the ballot processing and counting process as is provided by MCL 168.730-736.
84. It is a violation of the rights of President Trump’s campaign committee to have federal elections for presidential electors governed under rules prescribed by the state legislature for Secretary Benson and Wayne County to count ballots that are not lawfully cast, and it is a violation of Michigan law for the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the Michigan board of state canvassers to certify an election tally that includes ineligible or unlawfully cast ballots.
====COUNT III - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated Michigan’s Election Code====
<!--85. MCL 168.730 provides:
(1) At an election, a political party or [an organization] interested in preserving the purity of elections and in guarding against the abuse of the elective franchise, may designate challengers as provided in this act. Except as otherwise provided in this act, a political party [or interested organization] may designate not more than 2 challengers to serve in a precinct at any 1 time. A political party [or interested organization] may designate not more than 1 challenger to serve at each counting board.
(2) A challenger shall be a registered elector of this state. . . . A candidate for the office of delegate to a county convention may serve as a challenger in a precinct other than the 1 in which he or she is a candidate. . . .
(3) A challenger may be designated to serve in more than 1 precinct. The political party [or interested organization] shall indicate which precincts the challenger will serve when designating challengers under subsection (1). If more than 1 challenger of a political party [or interested organization] is serving in a precinct at any 1 time, only 1 of the challengers has the authority to initiate a challenge at any given time. The challengers shall indicate to the board of election inspectors which of the 2 will have this authority. The challengers may change this authority and shall indicate the change to the board of election inspectors.-->
86. Secretary of State Benson and the election officials in Wayne County violated MCL 168.730-168.734 by denying Republican challengers’ rights to meaningfully observe and participate in the ballot processing and counting process..
88. Wayne County’s and Secretary Benson’s denial of Republican challengers’ right to participate and observe the processing of ballots violates Michigan’s Election Code and resulting in the casting and counting of ballots that were ineligible to be counted and diluted or canceled out the lawfully cast ballots of other Michigan voters.
==References==
==References==