Speaker Pro Tem Rachelle Smit, R-Martin, on Tuesday released the following statement after House Oversight Committee Chairman Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, formally subpoenaed the Michigan Department of State. The subpoena comes after MDOS has refused to release election training materials requested by Smit, chair of the House Election Integrity Committee.

“No one is celebrating this subpoena. The fact we even had to take this step is an embarrassing stain on the record of Secretary Benson and our election system as a whole.”

“There should be nothing controversial about the materials we use to train our clerks. When I first requested these documents months ago, I never imagined it would come to this. I made a good-faith effort to connect with Secretary Benson and her office so we could have an open dialogue about election procedures and election training materials. So much had recently changed with our election law; I just wanted to ensure there were no gaps or errors with how we’re teaching our clerks.

“Yet, Secretary Benson and her office are waging a media war against my request to keep these documents hidden. I asked for training materials, not the login information for her password-protected campaign website. This blatant obstruction raises the question: Is there something so damning in these training materials that Secretary Benson is willing to violate a subpoena over it?”

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