Sep 6, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Michigan Secretary of State warns it may take days to declare election winner

Fadel Allassan

Michigan may not have its final election results until the Friday following the election, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) told CNN's "Inside Politics" on Sunday.

Driving the news: It comes days after Josh Mendelsohn, the CEO of Democratic data and analytics firm Hawkfish, told "Axios on HBO" of a scenario in which President Trump will appear to have won — potentially in a landslide — on election night, even if he ultimately loses when all the votes are counted.

Benson said Michigan anticipates twice the usual mail-in and early vote ballots and that workers will be not be allowed to begin opening envelopes that were mailed in until Election Day.

"If that doesn't change, it may be until Friday evening before the full results of Michigan's elections are in."
"If that's the case, then I'm going to spend every minute between when our polls close and when we have the full results proactively letting everyone know that until every vote is counted, he will not be able to say who won any race."

Go deeper: Dem group warns of apparent Trump Election Day landslide

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Michigan Secretary of State warns it may take days to declare election winner

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