Michigan SOS: Our website is always last place for election results to be updated

‘This delay is no way indicative of fraud or cause for concern’

Chester County election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 general election in the United States at West Chester University, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in West Chester, Pa. With the outcome of the U.S. presidential race still in limbo on Wednesday, President Donald Trump and his supporters seized and spread online misinformation about legally cast absentee and mail-in votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Matt Slocum, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Michigan Secretary of State Office’s website is the last place you’ll want to check for results from the Nov. 3 General Election.

That’s according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who released the following statement after concerns that her office’s election results website is not up to date and is displaying the wrong results -- the truth is it’s not up to date and it’s not expected to be:

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“We only update the website when counties report their complete counts to us -- even after counting is finished in individual counties (thereby giving results) there are still administrative and procedural things they need to do before the transmission happens, so sometimes it takes some time,” Benson said in a statement to Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit. “This delay is no way indicative of fraud or cause for concern. We advised many journalists and the public ahead of the election that our website is always the last place for things to be updated and that they should check county websites first for more up-to-date results.”

On Thursday morning, Benson’s office tweeted:

“Now that all Wayne County jurisdictions have reported unofficial results to the county, those unofficial results have been added to our website. This is our standard protocol for publishing the unofficial election results of all counties."

ClickOnDetroit has the most up-to-date election results from around Metro Detroit -- and beyond -- thanks to our team of journalists gathering and confirming results from the county clerks. They have been working around the clock since Tuesday night keeping the results updated.

You can use this drop-down menu to search for a race that was on your ballot in Metro Detroit:

Trust Index -- alert us about misinformation

Accusations that the Michigan Secretary of State’s office was committing some kind of vote count “fraud” were swirling around social media. We saw it, reached out to Benson and got the official explanation.

If you see something like this anywhere on the internet -- a claim that you know is false and you need help confirming it and explaining it -- please reach out to our team at the Trust Index. We’ll sort it out.

Use the form below to share claims you’d like checked out.

Can’t see the form? Try here. Questions? Contact trustindex@grahammedia.com


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