“Michigan election professionals carried out more than 250 audits across the state, including a hand count of every ballot cast for president in Antrim County, and every one of those nonpartisan audits, as well as numerous court cases across the state and nation, and a report by the Republican-led State Senate Oversight Committee, have affirmed the accuracy and integrity of the 2020 election.

 Yet calls persist from those who have been lied to and taken advantage of by partisan state legislators, national figures, and others for unofficial, illegitimate reviews of the election results. These elites who lie about 2020 without a shred of evidence, who fail to speak the truth, are fueled by opportunism and cowardice. Over a year into this grift their goal is now clear. They no longer want only to change the outcome of the 2020 election, but to also undermine citizens’ faith in our democracy and dissuade them from being engaged and informed voters in future elections. This small group of grifters and wealthy supporters is pursuing a political strategy that threatens the survival of our democracy, and our nation.

 Regardless of whether the petition language delivered today is part of this strategy, we are proud that the Bureau of Elections staff will process it in a nonpartisan and unbiased manner, as they would any other submission. And ultimately, the response to the escalating and unabated efforts to undo our nation’s democracy must come from the people. Citizens across our state and nation must demonstrate the profound power of self-government by exercising their rights within it, calling on their elected leaders to speak the truth, holding partisan politicians accountable at the ballot box, and demanding their will and their vote be protected. And everyone is encouraged to review the audit analysis and report my office released earlier this year, speak directly with their local election officials about the safeguards and secure protocols in place to ensure the integrity of our elections, and volunteer to serve as election workers to protect our democracy and ensure it prevails.“

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