Benson to MS NOW: “Don’t fall for the bait and switch […] The SAVE Act is not going to save America at all”

During an interview on MS NOW, Michigan Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson sounded the alarm on the SAVE Act, legislation that will cost citizens more time and money while making it harder to vote. 

As Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson oversaw Michigan’s most secure elections and saved citizens time and money by making government work for them. She is the only candidate in this race with a history of standing up to attacks on citizen’s rights and freedoms and Trump.

In case you missed it… 

WATCH HERE

BENSON: This is a powerful man [Trump] who doesn't want to be held accountable. He's afraid to lose because of his unpopular economic policies that are driving up costs throughout my state, throughout our nation, and so instead, what is he trying to do? Silence voters. Silence might make it harder for us to actually hold him accountable, but we have to be certain that we don't fall for the bait and switch. 

[...] 

The SAVE Act is not going to save America at all. It is actually going to harm our ability to hold our elected officials accountable, including the President, in these midterms, at a time where Republicans, Independents and Democrats desperately want and need to be able to say, “Hey, you're driving up costs of everything from milk to childcare to healthcare to housing. That's not okay.” And we can communicate that at the ballot box, but if the SAVE Act passes, it's going to make it a lot more difficult for us to do that, and as the President says, that's exactly what he wants. 

VELSHI: This is not a discussion about having photo ID to vote. Lots of Americans have photo ID. The overwhelming majority of Americans have photo ID. That's a different discussion. This is proof of citizenship in a country where you are not required to have proof of citizenship to walk around or do anything.

BENSON: Yeah, our elections are secure, and the only thing this bill is going to do is cost American citizens more money and time, because most Michiganders, for example, wouldn't be able to use their driver's license or ID that they have to vote, even if they have a real ID. And that's why the politicians that are pushing this proposal make it sound reasonable, but they're lying. They're being insincere. I mean, sure, it sounds great. You need to show an ID to board a plane, rent a car, but what they aren't telling you is that if this bill becomes law, you will not be able to use those IDs to vote. A driver's license, the ID that the majority of folks have and carry around with them every day will not be acceptable to be able to vote.

VELSHI: What can you do if you do if you become governor? Can states do things if the SAVE Act becomes law? Can governors do something about it?

BENSON: Governors are the guardrails. There are Republican governors in some states that would cooperate and make it harder, at the request of the President, for people to have their voices heard at the ballot box, but Democratic governors, particularly in battleground states like Michigan, can use every tool at our disposal, to fight these demands in our state courts, in our federal courts, and also enact policies to protect against a lot of the over overreach and abuse of power that we're seeing at the federal level. 

We're already seeing that play out with Democratic governors across the country standing up to the President, and he tends to cower when you do that. And so this really also underscores the importance of having secretaries of state, attorneys general, governors in states throughout the country, and particularly in battleground states like Michigan, that will stand up to these lies, to this insincere attempt to essentially rig our elections, because, as the President said, he's afraid of the voters.

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