“The Secretary of State, like so many other organizations, has the authority to send out voter applications to all voters,” one official told Newsweek.
President Donald Trump Wednesday morning decried a decision by Michigan officials to mail all state residents an absentee ballot ahead of the November general election, calling Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson a “rogue” actor.
That was his first mistake in this tweet. They were ballot applications, not ballots.
He also said that the secretary’s actions were taken “illegally.” But experts caution that state emergency powers are at their highest during a public health crisis and that current election law does not appear to preempt Benson’s decision.
Jake Rollow, a spokesperson for Michigan’s Department of State, called Trump’s assessment of Michigan election law “false” in a statement Wednesday.
“We have full authority to mail applications to ensure voters know they have the right to vote safely by mail,” Rollow said.
Trump also threatened to withhold federal funds from Michigan because of the move, which critics have dubbed unlawful retaliation. He said, as he has previously, that mailed ballots will lead to widespread voter fraud, a claim that is not supported by the available evidence.
Trump, however, later deleted the tweet and reposted it to correctly note that Benson’s efforts involve applications, not ballots. But his comments come at a time when already bitter relationships between Trump and Democratic state officials have been heightened further.
The president embarked on a similar path as the one he articulated Wednesday in response to grievances about immigration sanctuaries and other policy regimes he disfavors. He has previously threatened to withhold funds from California and New York.
“I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path,” he said initially, tagging the U. S. Treasury Department in a tweet.
Michigan election law is governed by the state’s Constitution and statutes enacted by the legislature. A tiny provision of the election code sits at the center of this long-simmering dispute.
