It what can only be seen as an effort to keep the facts from coming to light in the face of problematic issues with Michigan’s 2020 General Election process, a memo has been issued from Michigan’s Secretary of State to destroy data.
The Michigan State Republican Party Friday sounded an alarm about an ethically questionable memo authorized by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson that “is pushing for the mass deletion of election data.”
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox in a statement Friday, said that Benson’s office issued orders to clerks in Michigan counties to “delete Electronic Poll Book software and associated files” even as calls to audit the election persist.
Secretary Benson’s move to delete this data before an audit raises a serious question, what are the Democrats hiding? https://t.co/49umKx4kAV
— Laura Cox (@MIGOPChair) December 4, 2020
Cox was referring to a December 1, 2020, memo from the Michigan Bureau of Elections, an agency overseen by Benson’s office, that read, “[Electronic Poll Book] software and associated files must be deleted from all devices by the seventh calendar day following the final canvass and certification of the election (November 30, 2020) unless a petition for recount has been filed and the recount has not been completed, a post-election audit is planned but has not yet been completed, or the deletion of the data has been stayed by an order of the court or the Secretary of State.”
The order targeted data contained in Electronic Poll Book software and in files contained on laptops and USB drives using during the election.
“Secretary Benson’s move to request the deletion of election data amidst bipartisan calls for an audit is just another example of her putting partisan politics over what’s best for Michigan,” Cox said in the Friday statement.
“With election irregularities rampant across the state,” Cox added, “it is vital that we have this audit before any election data is deleted. Secretary Benson’s move to delete this data before an audit raises a serious question, what are the Democrats hiding?”
This week, witnesses, including a poll worker in Detroit and GOP poll challengers, testified at a Michigan State Legislature hearing into the myriad complaints of vote fraud and ballot tampering throughout the state on Election Day and afterward.
Michigan’s Secretary of State told reporters that there is no evidence of vote fraud, ballot tampering, or irregularities that would overturn the election, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.