Armed protesters swarm Michigan secretary of state’s home over election results
Jocelyn Benson and her son were about to watch a movie when election protesters arrived, chanting 'Stop the steal.'
Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said a group of armed protesters showed up at her house this weekend in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Benson said she and her four-year-old son had just finished decorating their home for the holidays and were about to watch a Christmas movie when the group arrived. Two dozen protesters chanted “Stop the steal” and accused Benson, a Democrat, of ignoring widespread voter fraud.
Many waved American flags and were armed.
She called their actions outside her home “unambiguous, loud and threatening.”
“The individuals gathered outside my home targeted me as Michigan’s Chief Election Officer,” Benson wrote on Twitter, introducing her official statement. “But their threats were actually aimed at the 5.5 million Michigan citizens who voted in this fall’s election, seeking to overturn their will. They will not succeed in doing so.”
Through efforts such as “bogus legal claims,” her statement contends, “those unhappy with the results of this election have perpetuated an unprecedented, dangerous, egregious campaign to erode the public’s confidence in the results of one of the most secure, accessible and transparent elections in our state’s history.”
The incident occurred outside of Benson’s home in Detroit. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and state Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a joint statement condemning the actions.
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“They shouted baseless conspiracy theories about the election, and in videos uploaded to social media, at least one individual could be heard shouting ‘you’re murderers’ within earshot of her child’s bedroom,” they wrote. “This mob-like behavior is an affront to basic morality and decency.”
They added that “terrorizing children and families at their own homes is not activism.”
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Detroit police dispersed the crowd at 10 p.m., and there was no arrests.
President Donald Trump’s vitriolic rhetoric about the election he lost last month has led to dozens of protests and threats against election officials in Michigan, as well as officials in Georgia, Arizona, Vermont, Kentucky, Minnesota and Colorado.
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