Blaze News investigates: Leftist AG Dana Nessel threatens to prosecute Michigan woman for allegedly sharing 'misleading' election info

A Michigan resident recently received a disturbing "cease and desist" letter from the office of Attorney General Dana Nessel, a far-left radical known for targeting Christians with lawfare.

Based on the contents of the letter, it appears that Nessel has expanded her lawfare into encouraging Michiganders to report on any family member, friend, or neighbor who happens to discuss elections in a way Nessel doesn't like.

Blaze News spoke with the recipient of the letter — 57-year-old Kerry Lynn Elieff of Ross Township — on Thursday to better understand the context of the letter and how she plans to respond to it.

Blaze News also reached out to Nessel's office for comment on the letter but did not receive a response.

'Do your part!' Michigan Dems want help unearthing election disinfo

For weeks now, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, another leftist Democrat, has been sounding the alarm about so-called "election misinformation." Benson recently claimed that misleading statements about elections "create mistrust in our elections process and are damaging to a healthy democracy."

'Help us fight misinformation during the 2024 election season with this new reporting tool.'

To guard against unwittingly sharing election misinformation, Benson advised each Michigander to become "a critical consumer of media" and to be wary of possible deep-fake videos and audio clips generated by AI. She also directed residents to check their facts at Snopes.com and PolitiFact, which Benson describes as purveyors of "nonpartisan" information, even as bias-checker website AllSides rates both of them as "left-leaning."

Benson even invited Michiganders to "report" any and all examples of alleged election misinformation to the state. "If you see misleading or inaccurate information regarding voting or elections in Michigan, please report it — and include an image if possible — to [email protected]," her statement said.

"Do your part!"

AG Nessel is likewise gravely concerned about Americans freely discussing elections on social media in accordance with their First Amendment rights. At a speech before the National Press Foundation last month, Nessel lamented that too few employees at social media companies are now "coordinating with government agencies in terms of removing false [election] information" compared with previous years.

"We've had some some success in the 2020 election cycle getting false information taken down from social media, but unfortunately, a lot has changed since that time," she said.

Nessel even took a swipe at X and its owner, Elon Musk, who recently endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024, for refusing to do the government's bidding. "There's a pretty major social platform that was purchased since [2020] by a particular person who himself likes to share misinformation and disinformation," she claimed.

"And that's really concerning."

Nessel and Benson even apparently convinced one of the state's most prominent newspapers, the now perhaps inappropriately named Detroit Free Press, to join with them in the hunt for anyone engaged in election wrong think.

"Help us fight misinformation during the 2024 election season with this new reporting tool," read an August 5 headline from Detroit Free Press audience engagement intern Diamy Wang, who prefers the pronouns "she/they."

"This could be a social media post you see floating around that seems off, or an article with information you can't verify," Wang added.

The link in the article directs readers to a database run by the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin.

Nessel warns Elieff to 'cease and desist'

For some time now, Kerry Lynn Elieff has been actively involved in politics in and around Ross Township, Michigan, about 15 miles east of Kalamazoo. She has been a precinct delegate for the past two years and even ran for Ross Township supervisor this year and in 2022 as a Republican, bids that were both ultimately unsuccessful.

Even with her political involvement, Elieff was still surprised late last month when she received in the mail a letter with Nessel's name emblazoned across the top. She was even more surprised when she read the contents of the letter.

'It was kind of like they're threatening to put me in jail.'

"This CEASE and DESIST notice is to inform you that you are in violation of Michigan election law. It has come to the attention of our office that you have spread misleading or false election information regarding polling locations in Ross Township," it said.

"You are hereby ordered to CEASE AND DESIST the use of online platforms to continue spreading false or misleading information regarding Ross Township polling locations," it continued.

"Failure to comply with this notice may result in criminal prosecution."

It was dated July 24, 2024, and signed by Robbin N. Liddell, chief of the Criminal Trials Division in the State of Michigan Department of Attorney General.

Screenshot shared with Blaze News. Used with permission.

Elieff told Blaze News that she had recently been in a serious car crash and was still struggling with the aftereffects of a concussion when the letter arrived, so she had to reread the letter several times just to be sure she really understood it.

"They never stated anything specifically that I said that was in violation. There was no specifics," she said.

And indeed, the letter pointed to a Michigan statute, MCL 168.932(a), insisting that the statute "prohibits and criminalizes" some of Elieff's "conduct" but never actually identified what that conduct was.

Moreover, the statute does not seem to relate to sharing "misleading or false election information" at all. Instead, it forbids doing or encouraging someone else to do any of the following: vote under a false name or the name of a different person, vote in the wrong precinct, or vote twice in the same election.

Screenshot of Michigan government website

"That law that they state that I violated has absolutely nothing to do with what I stated or what I did," Elieff told Blaze News.

Without a specific accusation, Elieff has been left to speculate about her alleged offense. She recalled that in June, she made a few posts on Facebook and Nextdoor, informing friends and neighbors that polling stations in Ross Township had recently changed and expressing concern that those sudden changes might affect voter turnout.

"I'm not saying that the intent was election interference, but the result could be," Elieff told Blaze News she said on some social media videos that have since been deleted.

"People are going to go to the place where they voted for decades," Elieff continued, adding that if they wind up at the wrong spot, "they're going to turn around and go home."

Whether voter turnout was impacted by the polling changes is unclear, but there is no dispute that polling stations for both Ross Township precincts were recently changed. Clerk Mary Stage confirmed the changes in an undated statement posted to the township website.

"In January 2024 a motion was proposed to the Ross Township Board to move precinct 2 to a new location for the August, 2024 election. This motion was unanimously approved. In April 2024 a motion was proposed to the Ross Township Board to move precinct 1 for the August 2024 election," Stage wrote.

These changes were made "in accordance with Michigan law," she added.

Elieff did ultimately remove her social media posts and videos about the changes in polling locations in Ross Township, intimidated by the warning from Nessel's office about possible "criminal prosecution." Plus, Nessel has previously called providing "a false time or place of voting" "the worst form of misinformation."

"It was kind of like they're threatening to put me in jail," Elieff told Blaze News.

"This was a beatdown."

'A right to be wrong': Infringement on free speech

As Elieff's posts are no longer publicly available, it is difficult to ascertain independently whether Elieff shared false polling information in any of them. But according to traditional understandings of the U.S. Constitution, the veracity of Elieff's social media statements should not matter.

Unfortunately, Nessel has some legal precedent to buttress those efforts.

The First Amendment states very clearly: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (emphasis added).

And while Nessel and Benson are state executives, not members of Congress, they have given Michiganders the impression that they can capriciously "abridge" residents' speech regarding elections. Nessel's office even recently boasted that it would seek to "eliminate misinformation from social media platforms" as part of larger efforts to shore up "election integrity" in the state.

Unfortunately, Nessel has some legal precedent to buttress those efforts. In March 2023, Douglass Mackey aka Ricky Vaughn was convicted of a federal charge related to the Conspiracy Against Rights Act, also referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Act. According to the DOJ, Mackey illegally interfered with people's right to vote in the 2016 presidential election by posting allegedly "deceptive" images on social media that encouraged Hillary Clinton supporters to vote for her via text or on social media, which were then, as now, "legally invalid" means of casting a ballot.

Mackey was later sentenced to seven months in prison, though he has yet to serve that sentence while the appeals process continues.

Before his conviction though, Mackey attempted to have the charge against him dismissed on First Amendment grounds. However, U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis — nominated by Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill — denied Mackey's motion, arguing that prosecutors' unusual application of the KKK Act against Mackey did not "violate" his First Amendment rights "because although the case involves false utterances, it is at its core, about conspiracy and injury, not speech."

Like Mackey, Elieff believes that she has the right to speak freely on social media, even about elections and even if what she says turns out to be false.

"It was absolutely against my First Amendment rights," Elieff said about the letter she received from Nessel's office. "I have a right to be wrong."

'It's a shame': Elieff plans her next moves

Blaze News also spoke with Republican state Sen. Jim Runestad, who represents a district on the other side of the state from Elieff but who nevertheless expressed concern about the "cease and desist" letter she received, describing it as "outrageous." He asked Blaze News to furnish him with a copy of the letter and promised to look into it.

In his conversation with Blaze News, Runestad also called out Nessel and Secretary of State Benson for masquerading as defenders of election integrity when they so regularly restrict people's constitutional rights.

'That's what this is about — control power, always with the Democrats, control power. Nothing to do with telling the truth.'

"The idea that these people ... [are] the arbiter of truth and justice and the American way when it comes to elections — what a joke," he said.

"I wouldn't trust [Benson] as far as I could throw her in terms of accurately telling me anything about what's going to happen in the elections," Runestad added. "And then she's going to be saying, 'We're going to figure out what the truth is and what the falsehoods are'?"

Runestad insisted that Democrats in Michigan aren't interested in protecting the truth or the state's voters. Instead, he said, they want "control and power."

"That's what this is about — control power, always with the Democrats, control power. Nothing to do with telling the truth," he told Blaze News.

"They're more than happy to spew lies in every direction," Runestad continued. "They want people falling in line and being fearful of them."

Blaze News reached out to Nessel and Benson for comment but did not receive a response.

In addition to speaking with the media about the "cease and desist" letter, Elieff told Blaze News that she is keeping all of her "options" — including a possible lawsuit — on the table.

"I'm even looking at the township because of what they've done and then come after me," she said. "I really believe it was a 'cover your fanny' moment."

Elieff reiterated to Blaze News that any action she may take in response to the letter would be on behalf of other Michiganders cowed into silence by Nessel and Benson's heavy-handedness.

"I don't want it to happen to anybody else, and it better not happen to anybody else," she said.

"It's a shame that we've come to this place in Michigan."

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