Secretary Benson statement on protecting Michigan's election security

Today, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson made the following statement after the passage of House Resolution 117 on a party-line vote to hold the Secretary and the Michigan Department of State (MDOS) in contempt of the Michigan House of Representatives. Earlier in the day, MDOS responded to a letter from the House Committee on Oversight seeking a meeting to discuss the sharing of sensitive election security information the committee has subpoenaed, which was disregarded by the majority members of that committee:   
 
"I believe in oversight and transparency. That’s precisely why our department has voluntarily complied with providing thousands of pages of documents used to train and educate our local clerks. However, I also have a duty to protect the security of our elections from politicians seeking information that would enable someone to interfere with the chain of custody of ballots, tamper with election equipment, or impersonate a clerk on Election Day. We have attempted to work with the chair of the committee to explain these realities and we’ll do the same in a court of law. 
 
"But let me be clear: this is no way to govern a state. This is government rooted in bullying and chaos – and I’m tired of it. It’s ineffective and it is dangerous. This rhetoric, this cruelty, and this lying harms professional election officials who are simply trying to do their job and protect the security of our elections. 
 
"I will work with anyone to ensure that transparency and election security rule the day. The committee chairs are deploying false accusations and threats to get access to sensitive election security information. At the same time, the Oversight Committee has voted to give Chair DeBoyer the authority to disclose confidential information about our election security to anyone he chooses at his sole discretion. That directly conflicts with my duty protect some of the information they are demanding and to keep it out of the hands of bad actors. 
 
“In our response to the committee today, we made it very clear that we’re willing to sit down with them and try to come to an agreement on how best to ensure transparency in our system while protecting sensitive election security information. In fact, we’ve repeatedly asked the members of the committee to meet with us over the last several months. They have refused.
 
“Contrary to what Chair DeBoyer said in his press conference this morning, we have responded to the House Oversight Committee subpoenas in good faith and ahead of all deadlines. My office has released documents to the committee five times since January. We have turned over more than 3,300 pages of election documents and have also made them available to the public at Michigan.gov/ElectionTransparency.
 
“We have also asked to meet with House legal counsel and an independent third-party mediator from the judicial branch to resolve any questions about disclosure of confidential information in compliance with the law in order to reach an amicable conclusion to this matter. 
 
“I do not work for the Chair of the Oversight Committee. I do not work for the House Republicans. I work for the people of Michigan, and I will not put their election security, their votes, or their voices at risk.
 
“I will continue to work with anyone who will work with us as we balance the need for transparency and oversight with the need to protect the security of our elections. I look forward to now having this conversation in front of a judge in a court of law.”
 
READ: Michigan Department of State response to House Oversight Committee 5.22.25

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