Michigan’s lawless Secretary of State has yet to pay any price for asking clerks across the state to break the law by telling them to ignore signature matching, but when it comes to a specific Twp. Clerk in a majority Republican area of Michigan, Secretary of State Benson, appears to be hell-bent on making her pay for not complying with voting machine updates on her timeline.

The Adams Twp. Clerk became the target of SOS Benson when she refused to allow updates to her voting machine over concerns that election data from the 2020 election that, by law, is supposed to be preserved for 22 months will be compromised or, worse, erased.

In a small township in rural Michigan, Stephanie Scott, the Adams Township Clerk who ran for office as a Republican, received a letter on October 25, 2021, from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office written by Director of Elections Jonathon Braeter with a copy sent to Dana Nessel’s office, informing her that she has been relieved of her duties as an elected official, a full two days before the deadline for her to comply with their demands to “update” her Hart voting machine.

Stephanie Scott explained, “The deadline for the Public accuracy test (and potential reprogramming of the machine) is in two days. It was my understanding, via an email from the Deputy County Clerk, that the machine maintenance is not due until the end of the calendar year. The Hillsdale County clerk set an arbitrary August 2021 date for machine maintenance, of which I did not participate. So my hard deadline is not about tabulator maintenance. Other townships used their machines earlier this year without the ‘maintenance’ being performed.”

Ms. Scott received the letter relieving her from her duties two days before the deadline to comply with their demands, including updating her tabulator to accommodate a 5G connection. The Adams Twp. Clerk stated that she would like to know why these modems are plugged in all day during the election if the purpose is only to transmit results after the polls are closed?

In their threatening letter, the Adams Twp. Clerk is “directed” to “provide immediate access to all election equipment and records, including tabulator, voter assist terminals, absentee ballot applications, ballot envelopes, and polling place materials. They also informed her that her access to the Qualified Voter File would be suspended until further notice and that she would be charged with a misdemeanor if she refused to comply.

In March 2020, Michigan Court of Claims Chief Judge Christopher Murray ruled that Michigan’s dishonest Democrat SOS Jocelyn Benson broke state law when she issued new rules on absentee balloting before the 2020 election. 

Breitbart -Benson issued several unilateral orders during the 2020 election, including sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. She also issued “guidance” on how to evaluate absentee ballots, a move Michigan Court of Claims Chief Judge Christopher Murray held violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act.

Murray ruled Benson violated the law “because the guidance issued by the Secretary of State on October 6, 2020, with respect to signature matching standards was issued in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).”

Murray’s ruling came after Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski sued Benson and state Director of Elections Jonathan Brater over Benson’s order which Hall described as a “mandatory directive requiring local election officials to apply a presumption of validity to all signatures on absent voter ballots.”

On October 29, only four days after receiving the letter from SOS Benson’s office, Sergeant Barkley of the Michigan State Police, apparently acting at the behest of Michigan’s partisan Attorney General Dana Nessel and allegedly at the direction of the dishonest and lawless Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, seized the township’s election tabulator from a locked cabinet in the office of Adams Township’s Clerk, Stephanie Scott.

A “search warrant” was procured seeking a scan unit for a Hart inter civic tabulator used in the November 2020 election and to be used for an upcoming local election being held in the township on November 2.  

According to Ms. Scott’s attorney, Stephanie Lambert, the County Treasurer entered the Clerk’s office and unlocked the cabinet to allow Sergeant Barkley to remove the tabulator and other items. Lambert explained, “The treasurer has no authority to go into the Clerk’s office to open the cabinet.”

At 2:52 pm, the Clerk’s attorney received a message from Sergeant Barkley saying he had what he was looking for and that her client did not need to come to unlock the cabinet in her personal office.

Ms. Scott’s attorney asked the state police sergeant whether the Treasurer had opened the cabinet without her client’s permission, which had obviously occurred.  She also asked if the sergeant had any questions for her client, to which he replied, “I will come up with a list of questions and get with you in the next few business days.”  When asked for a copy of the affidavit, which would have to have been presented to the judge who authorized the search, Sergeant Barkley refused to provide it and said that she would have to obtain it from the court where the warrant and affidavit would be filed.  In order to obtain a search warrant, the requesting entity or individual officer has to sign an affidavit to explain the probable cause basis for the search warrant, which must then be reviewed and approved by a judge.  In this case, the warrant was presented to and signed by magistrate Megan Stevenson for the 2nd District Court in Hillsdale County.

Stephanie Scott, who was elected to run her township’s elections, has been officially stripped of her election responsibilities.

The Clerk’s attorney told us that her client was “just trying to perform her constitutional and statutory duties as an elected Township Clerk” and that the Secretary of State had stripped her of that right by ordering the confiscation of property and information that was by law supposed to remain under the clerk’s custody and control adding, “Michigan’s Secretary of State has taken away the Clerk’s right and obligation to run the election.  They’ve usurped her constitutional right to perform her duties.”

Scott is now facing a recall over her actions.

On May 13, the County Election board approved the language for the recall petition of Stephanie Scott. The recall is based on Jonathan Braden’s letter, which Lambert says is unlawful. Lambert is appealing the recall language that is not accurate or clear and has filed suit against defendant Hillsdale County Clerk Marney Kast, who made the resolution for the petition and for essentially usurping Scott’s authority.