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The michigan secretary

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of state jocelyn bentsen had undertaken a completely lawful routine and

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in fact lottery move to send out under michigan law

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absentee ballot applications to the voters of her state.

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Reason bing so those voters do not have to go the polls in the fall possibly

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...span direct if they do not want to the president

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then falsely claimed this was done illegally and without authorization by

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...secretary straight he then listen this threaten to

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hold up funding to michigan if they want to go down this voter fraud path.

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I'm joined now by the person has attacking jocelyn

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bentsen she's michigan's democratic sectors state and she responded to present today quote

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high I also have a name is jocelyn bentsen we sent applications not ballots just

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like my republican colleagues in iowa georgia nebraska and west virginia it did not stop there after

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trump rewrote his treat correcting it bentsen rollback

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high again still wrong every michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail I have the

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authority and responsibility to make sure they know-how...right just like

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my republican colleagues are doing secretary it's great to have you here I

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wondered if you could just literally explain what the law is in your state and what you

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were overseeing right now with respect to the general action in the fall, yeah,

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well, in michigan effort things for me and things

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...given me an opportunity to clarify it really amplifies citizens' rights

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of finding out in michigan which they have under our state constitution in november of twenty

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eighteen citizens voted overwhelmingly to get themselves this right to vote by mail...it was

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...by a citizens on both sides of the political spectrum and

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it's something that citizens on both sides the political spectrum have done...the several actions

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we had over the past eighteen months so of course now the national spotlight our

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state and the endemic happening and...uncertain time that we're living in

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we felt I feel it's important now more than effort

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...certainty that clarity and knowing exactly how to vote in

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this year's elections without leaving their home safely and securely and

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they're clarity that comes with getting application announcer question

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...be sent you to exercise is right?

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So, every michigan under who is eligible vote...can fill

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...say I would prefer to vote absentee and that is under state law that that's

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okay?

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Yeah, they actually have a right under our state constitution diesel

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...so one thing that I find really bizarre here I have to say and you just stress this is,

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you know, we've seen battled over voting access

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that very clearly often have a racial violence or a partisan balance particular battles

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...voter id where we see there's disproportionate effects and how voter id

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...facts african-americans...white peoplebattles over polling places in say

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concentrated irving precincts that tend to vote democratic

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this is not like that I mean as far as I can tell there's no partisan balance

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to absentee voting like my understanding of the research is

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...like there's just a lot of people want to do a particular senior citizens particular limits

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of panoramic I don't even quite get it as a like political play?

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Yeah, I completely agree I think for me I'm dumbfounded that

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this is controversial especially because...are democratic...day or doing just what we're doing here in

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michigan...to me it's also a reflection of what will be happening in our state

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and massive head which is an effort to

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...confuse voters about their rights in this...we see it happening nationally we've

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seen happening in very server forms and we anticipate...is going to just escalate

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...the months ahead so my responsibility is also try...cut through that misinformation that chaos

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and confusion just clearly state you all...orders regardless of who you're

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voting for this easier choices this is how you can vote this year and give them again

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that certainty that they'll have that right to vote it will be protected and

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...for everyone regardless of how they're going to ensure their voices are heard.

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You know, I don't want to give too much

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credence to insane and unsupported accusations the president makes because they're

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...my read of the data is that there's not there's no data support

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there's any widespread fraud in absentee balloting or absentee voting are you confident...

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that you have the systems in place to administer free and fair election no matter how many people choose to vote

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...person...yes absolutely I meanpeople have been voting by mail and

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being president for decades in this country

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...various states so we've got the tools in place not just to

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...every citizen can vote by mail but to ensure that when they do so insecure...signature

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every citizen every voter who's voting by mail is required to sign the envelope in which

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their values returned and that signatures...mass...registration signature to

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confirm ar exactly who they are under voter registration

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...so the security measures are in place I...you know, quite hard cores are based

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...signature and a very easy to confirm or discard

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a ballot that has a mismatch signature are also benefiting from the fact that

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again this has been going on decades and states all across the country where intentional

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...occur and when it occurs because of the security checks is...prosecuted?

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Yeah, I have to point out that the most notable an egregious example of

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absentee voter fraud that's happened in this country was a republican operative

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essentially cheating on behalf of the republican candidate in north carolina something that

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we've covered but also was sniffed out

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an obviousmichigan secretary of state jocelyn benson who seems like

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is she is quite on top of the situation there thank you for sharing sometime tonight things...