The Michigan secretary of state’s office misprinted a voting section concerning President Trump’s administration on ballots bound for troops serving overseas.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who endorsed Joe Biden for president and recently spoke at the Democratic National Convention, oversees the office responsible for the error. The ballots listed Jeremy Cohen, the libertarian party vice presidential nominee, as Trump’s running mate, omitting Vice President Mike Pence.
As of Tuesday, more than 400 of the ballots were downloaded by local clerk’s offices to be sent to voters, though the amount that was actually mailed remains unknown.
The ballots were supposed to be mailed to Michigan residents serving abroad under the Military and Overseas Empowerment Act.
Clerks were informed of the error later Tuesday, and replacement ballots will be issued to those who received the misprinted ballot.
“If a voter does happen to return the incorrect ballot instead of the correct ballot, it will still count,” said Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for Benson. “The clerk will be instructed to duplicate a vote for Trump onto a ballot for Trump/Pence.”
At her DNC speech last month, Benson promoted the benefits of voting by mail and assured the public that the practice is safe.
“There is absolutely zero difference between voting by mail and voting absentee,” Benson said. “Millions of Americans have been voting absentee for decades.”
“Donald Trump, his family, his staff, they all vote by mail,” Benson continued.
Trump, however, has publicly worried that the mail-in system could be abused.
“The only thing I’m concerned about is the unsolicited ballots, where they’re going to send 80 million unsolicited ballots to people that they don’t even know if they’re alive or if they’re living there. … I think it is a catastrophic disaster for this country,” Trump said last month.
Benson was endorsed by Biden during her secretary of state run in 2018.
“Jocelyn is a leader who will make Michigan proud, and that is why I am supporting her,” Biden said.
