President Donald Trump is working overtime to shed doubt on the election results with a barrage of tweets accusing Michigan and other battleground states of allowing voter fraud.
This has placed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in the position of defending her state's vote-counting process, which she insists has been transparent.
"What this is really about is more of a political strategy or partisan effort to sow seeds of doubt amongst our voters about the integrity of our election's process," she told Cheddar. "But the bottom line is we've got 1,500 clerks all throughout the state, at the city, and township level who worked tirelessly for months to ensure every strict protocol that we've got in place under the law here in Michigan was met."
While the Trump campaign is demanding access to vote-counting sites in the state, poll watchers from both parties are already present. Shortly after Cheddar spoke with Benson, a Democrat, on Thursday afternoon a Michigan judge denied a suit over the issue brought against her by the Trump campaign
Benson noted that despite record turnout the state was able to tabulate results in less than 48 hours and that the process has been "methodical" and "secure."
"We saw record numbers of people voting in this election, record numbers of people voting absentee, and through that process, our clerks rose and met every challenge," she said.
The state's top election official sees the rhetoric coming from Trump as one of the biggest threats to the security of the voting process, but not one that took her by surprise.
"The bottom line is no one should be surprised that this is happening," Benson said. "Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? No."
The state has asked residents to submit any evidence of misinformation concerning the election to misinformation@michigan.gov.
Going forward, Benson expressed pride in the clerks who pulled off this election but would like to see greater support from the legislature
"In terms of regrets, I wish our state legislature had done more to partner with us and our local clerks to provide more resources and support as we entered this really momentous, historic election," she said.
