State Rep. Rachelle Smit, R-Martin, on Thursday released the following statement after the House voted to hold Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the Department of State (MDOS) in contempt of the House for violating a subpoena for election training materials:

“For seven months, we’ve given Secretary Benson every opportunity to sit down with us and discuss the training process for clerks and their staffs. I made my first information request in November of last year. Since then, we’ve gone back and forth repeatedly as MDOS has blocked our access to the materials used to train our clerks and their staff. I was a clerk, and like thousands of other clerks, I had access to this information. My accessing it now shouldn’t be controversial.

“Our election law has changed so much in the last two years. It makes sense that Secretary Benson would have to update training materials in accordance to those changes in law. However, the training directives given by Secretary Benson have been deemed unlawful by Michigan courts 7 times. Additionally, the Legislature has a constitutional duty to oversee the Secretary of State and to ensure that she is properly conducting Michigan elections. Secretary Benson has a proven record of failure, and the public deserves to check her work.

“Holding an elected official in contempt is not something to celebrate. It’s a disappointing day when our elected leaders do not live up to the standard expected of them. Secretary Benson has not even tried to live up to that standard. She’s spit in the face of transparency, illegally operated our elections, and intentionally hid from the public. She must answer for her failure.

“In response to our actions, our ‘transparent’ Secretary of State held a closed-door press conference for damage control. She called us cruel and bullies for requesting training materials. I’m not sure what’s cruel about asking for these documents, but if I offended the paper, the trees, or the Lorax, I sincerely apologize. Unlike Secretary Benson, at least he makes sense when he speaks for something.”

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