joining us as the michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson.am secretary. >> you and i know that there is this push and pull when you want to talk about elections and the challenges of elections and you do that without suppressing the vote and you don't demotivate people about what donald trump is saying. there is no way to effectively toe the line said the center for innovation and research focused on election administration. when you want voters to turn out and you are telling them it is rigged, there is no surprise that some of them are. shooting yourself in the foot? >> when you inject fear in the process, there are ramifications for that and we have to notice the adversaries to democracy whether they come through candidates or other entities. the goal is to deter people from participating and cause people to give up on their own voice and their own vote. so the ramifications for that for someone running for president might be that you cause your own home-based to not turn out. >> madam secretary, you and i have had the good fortune of bein

jocelyn benson is the secretary of state of michigan and she has been in the eye of the storm since, well, before the 2020 election by far. but since then, certainly one of the real leaders to try to understand what was happening. the former secretary of homeland security, cofounder and executive chairman of -- group. michael really has just a depth of experience about dealing with, originally, it was online radicalization and extremism. and now, of course, based on his knowledge of that set of threats, he understands, you know, we've got to face what's going to happen in the elections. dara lindenbaum is the commissioner of the federal election commission of the united states and as such, she is part of the group that is trying to, you know, make sense of where money is being spent and what is being done with it, and the impact that it is having. and anna is the vice president of global affairs at openai. we really are thrilled that she is here with us because clearly, openai, along with the other companies, you know, is forging new ground. and a lot of it is very exciting. and fran

our attorney general, david nestle and secretary of state jocelyn benson. and i always want to make a point of acknowledging two incredible public servants that lead groups of public servants that show up on the front line in the most dire times. please join me in thanking major general paul rogers and colonel james grady from the state police and national guard. to our state employees, my cabinet, and my executive office team, thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of the people of michigan. let's get this show on the road. like some of you, i'm a product of the 80s. i love big hair and bold leather jackets. classic movies and of course the classic rock. and all great albums from the 80s have some things in common. chart topping hits that everyone loves and deep cuts for the fans and a few experimental tracks. at their best, these are timeless records whose impact transcends a single year or artist. at our best, this is what we aspire to do too. get things done that outlast us. make policy for future generations. over the past year, our record, like

and today the rnc sued michigan secretary jocelyn benson accused her of keeping ineligible voters onith me is matthew dowd. matthew, again, rnc has one job, elect republicans. how are they going to do that if all the money goes to paying trump's legal bills? isn't that kind of defeating the purpose, no? >> well, you know, as i was listening to you, i was thinking of the famous john mccain quote where he described russia as a gas station masquerading as a nation, as a country. >> yeah. >> this has become ask a trump venmo account masquerading as a political party. that's actually what it is. and you talk to the former staffers and all that, they're shocked the ones that got fired that trump wasn't loyal to them in the course of this. i don't understand why there hasn't -- why local candidates, it's not only the house of representatives and the committees assigned to that on the republican side to re-elect them and the senate committee assigned to re-elect them. it's somebody running for state rep in iowa. it's somebody running -- somebody running for governor in another state, all of

. >> joining us now, the michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson, whose supreme court back in december, rejected an attempt to keep donald trump off the ballot. madam secretary, grateful for your time, or you did file an amicus brief with the supreme court back in january, you took no position as to how the legal issue should be resolved, but you said for the good of democracy, the court should resolve them now and quote are you satisfied with today's opinion? you get clarity. did you get what you wanted >> yes, i am. and thanks for having me. i we her in michigan and election officials all across the country are fully prepared to do our jobs this year which is making sure every citizen can vote and that we're administering administrating full, free and fair elections. that continues. the clarity provided by the court is to affirm what i and the vast majority of my colleagues have also said since the beginning, which is that it's inappropriate for any one state to weigh in and make a decisive position. take a decisive position on such a thorny legal issue. it really is best left to the

individuals here tonight to weigh on this, no one better than the michigan secretary of state, jocelyn benson and madame secretary, it's great to have you here. why do you think donald trump's team made your state, michigan, their first target? >> well, thanks for having me and i wasn't surprised at all by this lawsuit except for the fact that an identical lawsuit was just dismissed for having no actual merit. but that said it was no surprise because michigan is a key battleground state in this presidential cycle. so just as we were scrutinized in the spotlight in 2020, we will be again this year but we welcome that scrutiny. we're accustomed to fighting back against that scrutiny. the truth is on our side, our elections are secure. so no matter how many lawsuits are filed, that truth will continue to rule the day. and yet, voters should expect these attacks are these strategies to continue all through november and probably even after? well, i think it's important to look at the data here in the numbers because that judge that we were quoting, he is found between 2,019.20, 23, and just last y

our first witness is michigan secretary state jocelyn benson. has held since her election in 2018. previously she served as dean at wayne state law school and received her bachelor's degree from welsley. our next witness is isaac kramer of the board of voter registration and elections for charleston county south carolina, where he has served for a decade and was appointed executive director in 2021. he a graduate of wheaton college. then we have janay wilson. welcome again. president a director of council of the naacp legal defense fund. she began her career at ldf as an extern before she was a full bright scholar in ghana. she returned as the association director of council and assumed the role of president in march tú of 2022. she received her bachelor's degree from nyu, and her law degree from the university of li, los angeles. senator fischer? >> thank you, i thank all of our witnesses for being here today. we have with us mr. brian kruse who serves for douglas county. and was recently reappointed for a third term. i've had the privilege of

our first witness is michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson and the role she has held since her election in 2018. previously she served as dean of the state law school received her bachelor's degree from wellesley. her bachelor from oxford and her law degree at harvard. our next witness is issac cramer of the board of voter registrationrd and elections in south carolina where he has served for a decade and was appointed executive director in 2021. he's a graduate of wheaton college. then we have jenae nelson, welcome again, president and director of the key legal de-fund. she begann her career as an intern before she was a fulbright scholar in ghana. she returned to lbf and assume the role of president in march of 2022 but she received her patzert degree m from nyu and her law degree from the university of california los angeles. senator fischer. i >> thank you madam chair to thank all of our witnesses for being here today. we have put those mr. brian kruse. mr. kruseved as douglas counties election commissioner since 2016. and was recently reappointed for a third term. i've had the priv

two of them join me at the table for their first joint interview, jocelyn benson, and nevada secretarysations you two are having with each other. >> it's sharing best practices, talking about misinformation we're hearing our voters are receiving because it's almost identical, and every once in a while we get hit with a lawsuit designed to sow seeds of doubt in our states. we know the voters are going to be inundated with a lot of noise over the next six months so we talk about how to collectively mitigate that noise and protect everyone from a similarly coordinated strategy that's hitting both of our states. >> the conversations are very exciting, but it's me -- >> they are or they aren't? >> they are. what we're talking about is about policy, right, what can we do for voters to make sure they have access to the ballot box and maintaining the integrity of the system. we ensure the safety of the system, talking what we can do to better educate voters about how the process works. and why we have some of this most -- the safest, secure elections in the country. >> here's the thing, though