First posted on Instagram
Senate Republicans have threatened immediate legal action against four Michigan county clerks, accusing them of misleading voters on Election Day into believing that a split-ticket ballot would not count.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent cease-and-desist letters to the clerks of Kent, Shiawassee, Wayne and Monroe counties on Tuesday, November 3, while voting was under way, after what it called "multiple, credible reports" from voters and credentialed challengers that election inspectors were telling voters their split-ticket ballots "will be rejected" or "will not count."
The letters call the instruction "illegal activity" and demand that each clerk issue corrective orders to every precinct and produce a list of every voter who was given the wrong information.
The example in the letters is a voter who marks the Democratic straight-party oval and then votes for Republican Mike Rogers for the United States Senate, and is told the ballot is dead. Under Michigan law it is not: the vote for the individual candidate counts in that race, and the straight-party selection covers the rest of the ballot.
Michigan's Constitution guarantees the right. Article II, Section 4(1)(c) gives every registered voter a "straight party" vote option on partisan general election ballots, and adds: "The voter may vote a split or mixed ticket." Voters restored the straight-party option in 2018, when they approved the constitutional amendment that put it in the Constitution.
The Republican National Committee sent a separate letter the same day to every county clerk in the state. Signed by the RNC's election integrity counsel Luke Bunting and senior counsel James F. Hasson, it said the party had "received credible reports from across Michigan that election inspectors are telling voters that, if they vote a straight party ticket, they may not cross over and vote for a candidate from the other party." The letter added: "As you know, that is false." The RNC's election integrity account posted the letter on X, writing: "Michigan law is clear. We're taking action."
The RNC letter said Michigan's Secretary of State "has been notified and has taken steps to address this issue." The Secretary of State is Jocelyn Benson, who is also the Democratic nominee for governor on the same ballot.
The letters do not say how many voters were affected, and no individual case has been independently confirmed. The RNC's public letter names no county, city or precinct, saying only that the reports came from "across Michigan."
The fight matters most in Michigan's United States Senate race, where Rogers, the Republican nominee, faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. In the days before the election, Democratic Representative Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers over El-Sayed. Michigan has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1994.
The letters came a day after the RNC and the Michigan Republican Party announced a court win over Benson. On November 2, the party said the Michigan Court of Claims had permanently blocked a rule requiring local clerks to delete electronic pollbook software and associated files within seven days of the final canvass and certification, and had ordered those records preserved.