State Rep. Ann Bollin, chair of the House Elections and Ethics Committee, today said a new report from the Michigan Office of the Auditor General revealed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s failure to administer elections according to the law and illustrates the importance of the Bollin’s ongoing work to strengthen elections in Michigan.

The audit released today said the Secretary of State failed to properly update and reconcile the state’s qualified voter file to reduce the risk of ineligible voters participating in the election. It also revealed inconsistencies in statements Secretary Benson has made regarding the post-election audits her department conducted. 

“The independent, nonpartisan audit released today shows that the work we have been doing in the Legislature to strengthen our elections is incredibly important,” said Bollin, of Brighton Township. “The Secretary of State failed to follow through on her duty to keep the state’s voter rolls clean and accurate and she failed to oversee the completion of all of the post-election audits, misleading the public along the way. These failures only highlight the importance of the work we are doing to improve election integrity.”

The audit – completed after the House asked Auditor General Doug Ringler to review election processes to help ensure their security and accuracy – identifies four areas of note related to the maintenance and security of the state’s qualified voter file and electronic poll books, the post-election audit process, and training requirements for local election administrators.

The Auditor General reviewed the post-election audits conducted following the November 2019 and November 2020 elections, revealing that the Secretary of State did not ensure county clerks completed and submitted all assigned post-election audits in a timely manner.

According to the review, county clerks did not submit results for 31 (or 8.6 percent) of the 361 assigned post-election audits. Of the 31, 12 audits were not completed. Of the 330 submitted post-election audits, 34 (10.3 percent) ranged from two to 47 days late.

In addition, approximately 17 percent of completed post-election audits did not include a hand count of the appropriate statewide race ballots. This directly contradicts a report issued by the Secretary of State following the November 2020 election that stated all of the required hand recounts were completed.

“This is very concerning,” Bollin said. “I have already reached out to the Secretary of State to plan a hearing about post-election audits. We must address these issues.”

The Auditor General revealed discrepancies based on addresses and deaths that should be corrected to ensure the qualified voter file is accurate. For elections conducted between May 2019 and November 2020, the audit identified 41 voters who died more than 40 days before the election but had a ballot counted under their name; 20 of those instances occurred in the November 2020 election. By law, the Secretary of State is required to check the qualified voter file and remove deceased voters at least monthly, and the Auditor General previously told the department to correct the issue in a December 2019 performance audit.

Bollin noted that she has already led the House in approving measures to clean up the qualified voter file:

• House Bill 4491 requires Michigan county clerks to remove deceased individuals from the state’s qualified voter file. County clerks already record death certificates. This common-sense measure would empower clerks to remove individuals from the voter file immediately after a death certificate is received, keeping the voter rolls accurate and up to date. It received unanimous approval in the House and currently awaits further consideration in the Senate.
• House Bills 4127 and 4128 set up a procedure to update or remove records in the qualified voter file if an individual hasn’t voted since the 2000 November general election or if the individual has a placeholder date of birth. These bills also received bipartisan support in the House and await consideration in the Senate.

The audit also noted that more than half of the county clerks and other selected county election officials were not sufficiently trained to conduct post-election audits, a statutory duty of the Secretary of State. Required post-election audit training was not completed by 52 percent of county clerks, and 59 percent of other county election officials had not viewed relevant post-election audit training webinars or videos.

House Bill 4129, approved by the House last year, creates accountability for county and local clerks who do not complete required training by requiring the Secretary of State to post names of local clerks who have not completed the required courses. It currently awaits further consideration in the Senate.

Bollin said the House plans to schedule a hearing to further discuss the Auditor General’s findings and seek answers from the Secretary of State.

“I will continue to work diligently to ensure our elections are run with the highest level of integrity from start to finish,” Bollin said.

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