GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — The Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says her office was already planning an audit of the November election. One state senator says he wants someone else to do the job.
The SOS has planned for roughly 22 months to do the audit. West Michigan State Senator Aric Nesbitt says he wants it done by an independent party.
“I think a full an independent audit, seems like a real common sense approach to give citizens more confidence in the results,” Aric Nesbitt said.
Nesbitt says that's to ensure the count was as accurate as possible.
“I think the vast majority, of our county clerks, of our township clerks, of our city clerks, of our everyday election workers are doing a good job,” Nesbitt said.
But Nesbitt has concerns about what happened in Detroit, specifically at the TCF Center. The Trump campaign did file a lawsuit about the alleged irregularities, but that lawsuit was thrown out.
Jocelyn Benson said in a statement, an audit isn't designed to address those concerns. Saying in part:
"Notably, audits are neither designed to address nor performed in response to false or mythical allegations of “irregularities” that have no basis in fact. Where evidence exists of actual fraud or wrongdoing, it should be submitted in writing to the Bureau of Elections, which refers all credible allegations to the Attorney General’s office for further investigation."
State Representative Terry Sabo from the Muskegon area says an independent audit is unnecessary.
“We all need to get on the same page, and just move past this. This is getting beyond ridiculous,” Sabo said.
Nesbitt says, while the audit won't change the margins for the 2020 presidential election, it could prevent future issues.
“In Michigan, as we see about a 150,000 vote margin, that’s a pretty substantial vote margin. That’s likely not going to change significantly. But if this vote was like in Florid in 2000, when it was a few hundred votes, or a few thousand votes, I think that’s going to be a real challenge in the future,” Nesbitt said.
