LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, is focused on making sure young voters have registered ahead of the November election.
Secretary Benson has been traveling around the state to meet with local election officials to hear about efforts to get in touch with eligible voters between the ages of 18-29. At a round table in Lansing today Benson said her office has been working with clerks in all 15 counties in the U.P. as well as universities and community organizations to reach young voters.
Benson has hosted similar meetings in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, and Traverse City.
“We try to bring in people who represent educational systems, K-12 as well as the collegiate level, and also community organizations that are serving folks who either may not be in school or may be in the workforce.” Benson said, “Leaders of apprenticeship programs as well, whether it’s corporations or unions helping us to bring their employees or members to bear on these discussions is important too.”
She also highlighted reaching more rural voters with the mobile branch office that travels across the U.P. to help people renew their driver’s licenses and get registered to vote. She said her goal is to meet people where they’re at to encourage as much engagement at the polls as possible.
“It’s really important to us to meet people where they are and hear from young people directly so that no matter who they choose to vote for, they have all the tools they need to participate,” Benson said. “It’s been really inspiring to see how many organizations are out there genuinely committed to this work, and my hope is that we can collectively keep leading the nation and youthful turnout, but move the needle even more to see more young people participating.”
At the round table, Benson also addressed increasing threats against election officials and clerks. She said they’re in a heightened state of anxiety as we enter into the fall.
“we’ve seen really a rapid escalation of noise and challenges and potential threats around our election operations and really just an effort to try to nationally and in michigan, delegitimize our processes and in doing so attacking election officials,” Benson said. “I’m really concerned because the impact of that is twofold. One, it makes voters wrongfully suspicious about elections, we want voters to have confidence in our processes. But it also puts election officials straight in the bullseye of challenges and potential violence.”
Benson said they are continuing to work with law enforcement to make sure everyone is safe and that as we enter into the next stretch of the election cycle.
