Michigan’s top election official defended the state’s elections following repeated attacks on X by Elon Musk, who spread false claims about inactive voters.
Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has corrected Musk multiple times in recent days, calling his comments about maintaining voter rolls “dangerous disinformation.”
Musk first reposted a video about inactive voters on Michigan’s rolls, saying, “Michigan has more registered voters than voters!”
Mr. Musk has a penchant for sharing false, misleading, or incomplete information about elections and the voting process. Election officials have contacted him multiple times to correct the misinformation, but his tweets on the subject have not subsided. He has emerged as a major spreader of right-wing conspiracies about voting ahead of November’s election, spending millions of dollars to help elect Donald Trump.
Benson responded to Musk this week, pointing out that Michigan does not have more voters than people, with 7.9 million people of voting age and 7.2 million active registered voters. . Musk was “pushing out misleading numbers that included 1.2 million inactive records that were scheduled to be deleted in accordance with the law,” he said.
She directed people to a state government website with election facts that states that, in accordance with state and federal law, inactive voters are eligible for two federal elections, which can be up to four years apart. ) must remain on the list until the expiration of the waiting period. The site says more than 600,000 voters are “scheduled to have their votes canceled” in 2025 and 2027 due to inactivity.
Mr. Musk was undaunted. He took out her middle name and said: “Jocelyn Michelle Benson, shame on you for openly lying to the public!” Only after this election will we remove ineligible voters. That necessarily means there are far more people registered to vote than there are voters. ”
Benson responded to Musk again, sharing the election facts website and saying: “In Michigan, we tell the truth and follow the law, and we encourage you to do the same.”
Benson said on CNN that Musk’s comments were “very disturbing” given the size of his platform, and that people with large platforms are using their platforms to disseminate accurate election information on their behalf. He said he would like to use it.
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“If he had enough time to Google me and look up my middle name, which he obviously did, he could find the facts of our election and post that too,” she said. said.
The Republican National Committee sued Michigan over its voter rolls. The lawsuit is part of a series of lawsuits the group has filed across the country aimed at restricting voting access and making false claims of voter fraud. Some states are seeking to purge voter rolls this year, saying inflated rolls with inactive or ineligible voters could lead to fraud, but such purges could lock voters out of the rolls. There is sex.
Voter list maintenance is performed regularly by election authorities, who compare voter data with other sources and remove people who have lost the ability to vote due to death, relocation, or other reasons. But election officials must carefully balance list accuracy with voter exclusion. Mistakes can cost voters their right to vote.
