Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson provides update on state election numbers
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Former President Donald Trump was re-elected as the 47th President of the United States on Election Night, recently taking Michigan and claiming the blue wall.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said over 3.3 million people had already voted before polls even opened. Now with the state still up for grabs, she gave an update on the election numbers Tuesday.
Benson said a total of 5.5 million Michiganders have cast their ballots in the 2024 Election, matching record-breaking numbers from 2020. Among those who voted, 2.2 million voted from home, 1.2 million voted early, and 2 million voted in person.
Meanwhile, 22,000 new voters registered when casting their ballots.
Benson later mentioned the reports of non-credible bomb threats that were targeting polling locations in Washtenaw, Wayne, Genesee, and Saginaw Counties, that she said the FBI reported was tied to Russia.
She also talked about doctored videos that circulated online after the polls closed. These videos, according to Benson, included false allegations of widespread voter fraud in Michigan. She called out President-Elect Donald Trump for wrongly claiming there was significant law enforcement presence in Detroit and Philadelphia.
She said Election Day in Michigan was a huge success.
The Associated Press projected Trump as the winner early Wednesday after calling Wisconsin – putting him over the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.
Trump, 78, will begin his second term early next year after losing his first reelection bid to President Joe Biden back in 2020. It was an extraordinary return to power for Trump, who refused to accept defeat four years ago and sparked the U.S. Capitol riot, was convicted of felony charges, and survived two assassination attempts.
Trump will be the first former president to return to office since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election. He is also the first person convicted of a felony to be elected president and, at 78, is the oldest person elected to the office.
His vice president, 40-year-old Ohio Sen. JD Vance, will become the highest-ranking member of the millennial generation in the U.S. government.