State representative candidate Stephen Carra and whistleblower Bob Cushman, who observed electoral fraud first hand in August, are filing a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over findings revealed in the #DetroitLeaks.

Carra and Cushman are filing a lawsuit against Benson as well as Jonathan Brater, who is Director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections. They claim that their rights as a political candidate and an election challenger are being violated due to Benson’s directives.

The complaint filed in the Court of Appeals on Friday alleges that Carra’s “special and substantial interest” in election integrity stems from his race for state representative in Michigan’s 59th district. Carra is running as a Republican to serve in the state legislature. The complaint also alleges that Cushman has a “special and substantial interest in the subject matter” due to his history as an electoral challenger, which will continue during next month’s election.

The lawsuit claims that Benson and Brater are breaking election law by enforcing social distance guidelines to disenfranchise poll challengers.

“Directly contrary to that duty, BENSON and/or BRATER have directed that local election officials can strictly require and enforce “social distancing” and face masking requirements upon election challengers as a condition of entry and performance of their duties,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit notes that there is no law on the books mandating these social distance requirements. They are based off of a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services directive that was issued in direct contradiction to an order from the Michigan supreme court.

“In summary, BENSON and/or BRATER have directed local election officials to condition the presence of election challengers upon wearing a face mask. Even while wearing a mask, an election challenger may not get closer than six feet to any election worker,” the complaint alleges.

In the explosive #DetroitLeaks series, it was revealed by Big League Politics earlier this week that poll workers were cackling after they were informed by their instructor that they could disenfranchise poll challengers using social-distancing rules as an excuse:

#DetroitLeaks:

Michigan poll workers can be heard laughing about social distancing rules will prevent poll observers from monitoring election process.

"Six feet. That's the rule, right? And you're entitled to your six feet." pic.twitter.com/IWFvF1YEOR

— Big League Politics (@bigleaguepol) October 21, 2020

Carra spoke to Big League Politics about his reasoning behind filing a lawsuit that has major ramifications for an election that is only 10 days away.

“We want to make sure that the elections are fair and honest, and there are some things I have seen recently with decisions made that don’t seem to promote fair and honest elections,” Carra said.

“It just seems like a blatant disregard for the Constitution and election integrity,” he added.

Carra noted that the proposed decision to allow ballots to be processed and counted for weeks following the election, which has been supported by Democrat leaders in the state, raised his attention to potential voter fraud occurring in the state. The ruling to count votes after the election was recently overturned by the Michigan court of appeals.

He hopes that his lawsuit will protect democracy for all Michigan residents and make sure that their votes are counted as they should be.

“The decisions that were attempted to give an extra two weeks to count the ballots and things of that nature are not appropriate and seem to be politically driven rather than focusing on making the elections process fair, open and transparent,” he said.

Big League Politics will continue to provide updates on this lawsuit as it progresses through the courts heading into election day.