Election integrity under the microscope as Election Day nears

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Elon Musk used his large X platform to question whether Michigan had more registered voters than eligible voters in the state. The content he reposted suggested the numbers left Michigan open to massive fraud as the battleground state is sure to play an important role in the election outcome.

It prompted a swift response from Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson who went back and forth with Musk on X. She called his post “dangerous misinformation."

Gosh, I wish that folks with such large platforms such as his would use it to spread accurate information about our elections," Benson said.

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A report from Bridge Michigan found that the state has some of the most bloated voter rolls in the country, with around 500,000 more registered voters than eligible voters. Federal law sometimes slows the pace of cleaning up the rolls. Republican election official Stephen Richer serves as Recorder of Maricopa County in Arizona and said Benson isn't doing anything unlawful.

“Somebody who has returned mail, go undeliverable, can be on the rolls as inactive for four years and that's required by federal law," Richer told CNN.

Michigan is set to purge more than 600,000 inactive voters by 2027, but the RNC sued earlier this year to try and speed up the process. A bloated voter roll has historically not given way to massive fraud.

Former President Donald Trump was asked if he'd seen anything suspicious as early voting has gotten underway around the country.

Well, I haven't. Unfortunately, I know the other side, and they are not good," he told reporters.

Elsewhere, Virginia is battling the Department of Justice over purging voting rolls Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., signed an executive order in August to require daily updates and remove suspected noncitizens from voter rolls. The DOJ sued, alleging some legal citizens have been dropped in the process, and saying states can’t purge voters within 90 days of an election.

In Texas, an appeals court allowed the state to enforce a new law against ballot harvesting, after a federal district court temporarily stopped it.