SE Oakland News

State Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly) recently raised concerns regarding multiple failures by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in sending out absentee ballot requests to those who are ineligible to vote, including voters who have moved out of state and even some who are deceased.

In a video recently posted on Johnson’s Facebook page, Johnson remarked that Benson could have sent out postcard reminders for voters to register and request a ballot. Instead, her office mailed out absentee ballot requests to every name on a state list of registered voters, many of which are not actually eligible to vote.

With all the information on the ballot requests already filled in, anyone who wants to make use of it only needs to sign the paperwork and send it back in, according to Johnson.

Sen. Ruth Johnson | #MiSenateGOP

“My concern is, we’ve received over 500 envelopes of people that have moved -- some months ago and some up to 40 years ago. People that are dead, they’re being sent to,” she said in this video. “Some households get as many as nine different absentee ballot requests.”

Johnson also expressed concern for those who, for other reasons, simply aren’t eligible to vote. Sending them a completed form to sign sends the message that they are eligible to vote, leaving them no reason to question whether they should send the ballot request in, receive a mail-in ballot and cast a vote.

“Clerks are calling me -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents. They’re very concerned,” she said in the video.

Johnson said that clerks who have reached out to her are concerned that the process for verifying that the ballot request is valid only requires a comparison with the signature the state has on file for residents' driver’s licenses.

She said the process increases the likelihood someone other than the named voter could fake a signature that is close enough to the state-recorded signature to fool the system.

“But the Secretary of State has hijacked the local clerks’ job and sent them to people that have moved, that are dead and are noncitizens. That’s a big concern for me,” Johnson told her constituents.