In Nov. 2020, as Michigan’s chief election official I was very aware that then-President Donald Trump and his team actively sought to interfere in Michigan’s certification process. But this week’s reporting in The Detroit News was the first time I learned of the audio evidence of his attempted interference.
There is a direct line between these recordings and the tragedy that occurred at our U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In 2020 Michigan was one of the first battleground states to certify the results of the presidential election. If the then-president had succeeded in delaying or preventing certification in Wayne County or at the state level, that precedent would have been used to delay or block certification in other battleground states, paving the way for the false slate of electors that were developing in each state to be illegally submitted to the National Archives.
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For me, the lowest moment in the post-election battle to protect Michigan’s accurate and legitimate election results in 2020 was not when armed protesters stormed my home. It wasn’t when a gathering of Trump supporters showed up to Michigan’s State Capitol demanding to be let in as the state’s “true slate of electors” when we all were sheltered in the State Senate Chambers finalizing the electoral college. It wasn’t even when Rudy Giuliani came to town to headline a sham legislative hearing filled with lies about our elections.
No, the most challenging time for me was the night of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting.
I distinctly remember coming home that evening feeling completely defeated. We knew about the pressure on the two members of the Board not to certify. We were prepared to go to court to ensure certification at the local and state level—and we were confident we’d win. But blocking certification in Wayne County and pushing this to the courts was part of a bigger plan to delay the process and foster doubt and uncertainty that would enable the Trump campaign to push Pennsylvania, which was certifying the next week, to delay as well. After that, we knew other dominos would fall—Georgia, Wisconsin, maybe even New Mexico.
And it was never lost on me who we were up against. Yes, the law and the facts and the will of the voters were on our side. But how could we, obscure state election officials, overcome the pressure and cajoling of the then-president of the United States?
Then something happened that I will never forget. Hundreds of citizens showed up to the meeting of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers to remind them of their duty under the law to ensure their votes counted. One after another each made cogent arguments that their voices mattered. Their votes mattered. Democracy mattered.
In my view, that turned the tide. Citizens and election officials in Wayne County, Detroit, and statewide didn’t flinch, stood firm, and demanded every valid vote be counted and certified as required under the law. And in the end, both the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and the State Board of Canvassers fulfilled their legal duty, followed the law, and certified the election. Michigan’s electoral votes were correctly awarded to the winner of Michigan’s presidential count: Joe Biden.
What began as the lowest moment of the post-election melee became the most inspiring. The voters won. Facts and the rule of law carried the day. Democracy prevailed.
That pressure campaign was part of a coordinated strategy to overturn the 2020 election. Everything that has happened in the three years since is telling us Trump will try this again. He is building the apparatus to exert pressure and challenge results in every way you can think of.
We must be ready.
We learned our lessons from 2020. Our successes in 2022 were clear proof that we have a strategy, too: making sure every citizen’s voice is heard and every vote is counted.
As we head into 2024, we will be on the alert in every precinct and every district across the state, empowering every citizen with the truth and facts they need to have confidence in their vote, their voice, and our elections. And no matter what we face, I know we will ensure that an attempt like Trump’s in 2020 to overturn an election will never succeed.
Jocelyn Benson is Michigan’s 43rd Secretary of State.
