RNC Sues Michigan Secretary of State Benson over Voter Roll Maintenance

Jocelyn Benson

The Republican National Committee on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for allegedly not maintaining the state’s voter rolls as required by federal law. 

“Election integrity starts with clean voter rolls, and that’s why the National Voter Registration Act requires state officials to keep their rolls accurate and up-to-date,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said “Jocelyn Benson has failed to follow the NVRA, leaving Michigan with inflated and inaccurate voter rolls ahead of the 2024 election.”

Read the full story

Election Officials Plan Ways to Count Votes Faster in 2024

Election officials throughout the country are allegedly planning methods for counting the votes faster in 2024 than they did in 2020, where many days of delay led to confusion, chaos, and credible widespread accusations of voter fraud.

According to Politico, several of the handful of key swing states have passed laws to implement methods for quicker counting and tabulation of the votes. Secretaries of state in those same states are also taking a more active role in overseeing the elections.

Read the full story

Court: Michigan Department of State Must Revise Election Poll Challenger Rules

The Michigan Court of Claims ruled Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office must either rescind or revise a May 2022 Manual for election poll challengers.

The 15-page ruling analyzed four restrictions on poll challengers, including the credential form requirement, the requirement that communication only is with the “Challenger Liaison”, the prohibition on recording “impermissible challenges,” and the prohibition on electronic devices in the Absent Voter Counting Board.

Read the full story

Michigan Secretary of State to Push for Gun Ban at Polling Places

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said she is working with state lawmakers to ban firearms at polling places and enact a Voting Rights Act.

“The time for only thoughts and prayers is over,” Benson said in a statement. “The time for taking action to ensure Michiganders are safe – in schools, in grocery stores, in places where we vote and everywhere in between – is now.”

Read the full story

Michigan, Minnesota Among States Democrats Move to Rewrite State Voting Laws After Midterm Wins

Democrats are moving to implement new voting laws at the state level following their midterm wins, according to The New York Times.

Democratic governors and state legislators have expressed plans to push automatic voter registration, voter pre-registration for minors, an expansion of early and absentee voting and criminalization of election misinformation, according to the NYT. The party retained most of its governors in the 2024 election and maintained its hold over several key state legislatures, creating a clear path to instating many of its favored voting policies.

Read the full story

Benson’s Argument in Zuck Bucks Lawsuit ‘Wrong,’ Says Attorney Representing Voters

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is “wrong” in claiming that she bears no responsibility for Michigan election officials accepting millions in grants from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to underwrite the cost of the 2020 general election, an attorney representing voters in a lawsuit naming Benson says.

“Evidence confirms that Benson was aware of this private funding scheme and even encouraged election officials to participate,” Mark “Thor” Hearne, special counsel with the Thomas More Society, told Great Lakes Wire.

Read the full story

‘25,000 Dead Registrants’: Why Legal Nonprofit Is Suing Soros-Backed Michigan Elections Chief

Following a recent win in his legal battle to compel Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to purge 25,000 deceased voters from her state’s rolls, Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams explained his suit on the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show on Friday.

After the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan last week denied Benson’s bid to dismiss the legal nonprofit’s suit against her, Adams decried the George Soros-backed election official’s unwillingness to update her rolls despite PILF’s documentation of the dead voters.

Read the full story

FOIA-Seeking Conservative Group Awaits Fulfillment of Court Order by Michigan Secretary of State

A conservative group on Tuesday demanded Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson comply with the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling to release unredacted documents in response to their Freedom of Information Act request.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against Benson last Thursday, requiring her office to release the documents in response to a FOIA initially sought by Michigan Rising Action.

Read the full story

Michigan Judge Tosses Zuckerbucks Lawsuit over 2020 Election Funding

A Michigan judge has tossed a lawsuit alleging Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson illegally accepted private money to swing the 2020 presidential election in favor of President Joe Biden.

First filed in October 2020, the litigation claimed that then-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg swung the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden by awarding millions of dollars to local governments in Democrat strongholds via his Chicago-based nonprofit the Center for Technology & Civic Life.

Read the full story

Thousands Formerly Incarcerated Get Michigan IDs, Driver’s Licenses

The Michigan Department of State (MDOS) has provided more than 5,000 state identification cards and driver’s licenses to parolees through its joint initiative with the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC).

The program offers newly paroled Michiganders a driver’s license or state ID has boosted these transactions by more than 10 times the prior amount.

Read the full story

GOP Candidate for Governor Hopes Trump E-mail Will Spur Investigation into Zuckerberg Funding of 2020 Election in Michigan

Can President Trump move the ball in Michigan to get legislators to do a serious investigation into how outside money was spent in the 2020 election? No one else has been able to get legislators to pay attention to the $12 million that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shipped to an obscure supposedly “non-partisan” non-profit to influence voters in Michigan, but gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon hopes that a recent email by Donald Trump will spur action.

Read the full story

Michigan Township Clerk Removed from Running November Second Election

Hillsdale County Clerk Marney Kast’s office will run the Nov. 2 election next week in Adams Township after the Michigan Bureau of Elections said Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott failed to comply with legal requirements for election security.

“The voters of Adams Township expect, deserve, and have a right to have their election carried out in accordance with all state and federal laws,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement. “I am confident that the Hillsdale County Clerk’s office will administer the election in a manner that ensures that it is legal, transparent, and secure.”

Read the full story

Gretchen Whitmer May Be Forced to Return Millions in Illegal Campaign Contributions

Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) may be forced to return millions in campaign contributions that exceeded individual donation limits, a court filing hinted this week.

Whitmer recently collected some donations as high as $250,000 — blowing past the $7,150 individual limit — by claiming she was under threat of recall. No real recall threat ever materialized. In fact, the chief proponent, Chad Baase, recently revealed that he moved to California.

Read the full story

Three Michigan Residents Charged with Absentee Ballot Voter Fraud, Following Concerning Trend

Three Michigan residents have been charged with voter fraud involving absentee ballots by state officials, which follows a concerning trend over the past decade.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) alleges Trenae Myesha Rainey submitted two dozen absentee voter applications on behalf of an unknowing Father Murray Nursing Home resident in Macomb County. According to prosecutors, the Centerline clerk “noticed the application signatures didn’t match those in the Qualified Voter File,” WWMT reported.

Read the full story

Michigan GOP Sues over Gov. Whitmer Campaign Funding Maneuver

The Michigan GOP and Chair Ron Weiser are suing Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, challenging $3.4 million of campaign donations to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that they say is illegal.

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan aims to force Benson to apply Michigan election law, compliant with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, to equally enforce contribution limits on all candidates. Whitmer raised funds over Michigan’s $7,150 contribution limit under the loophole of the recall exception, despite no apparent active recall efforts.

Read the full story

Republican Lawmakers Seek Public Input on Proposed Michigan Election Rules Changes

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

Republican state legislators are encouraging Michigan voters to register their opinions on three election procedural rules changes promulgated by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The Department of State will conduct a public hearing on the proposed rules on Friday, Oct. 1.

The three rule changes include:

Significantly altering the process to allow the disqualification of candidates by city and township clerks for election finance violations;
Creating a state database of voter signatures whereby voters could upload signatures rather than submitting an original ink signature with local election officials;
Relaxing standards of signature verification for absentee ballots, relying on an automatic presumption a voter’s signature is valid.

Read the full story

Michigan State Senator: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Seizing Absentee Ballot Distribution Control

Jocelyn Benson

A Republican Michigan state senator claimed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) is seizing control of the absentee ballot distribution process and “forcing sensitive voter information to be transmitted over the internet.”

State Sen. Jon Bumstead (R) said in a press release that he has created a website for constituents to register their concerns about changes Benson wants to make to how absentee ballots are distributed and counted.

Read the full story

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Seeks to Decrease Scrutiny of Absentee Ballot Signatures

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) is seeking to make permanent a unilateral rule she ordered in 2020 that effectively decreased scrutiny of absentee ballot signatures.

A court ruled Benson’s order to assume signatures matched was illegal because she did not follow the proper procedure in changing the rules shortly before the election.

Read the full story

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Returns a Legally Questionable Contribution While Gretchen Whitmer Keeps Hers

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) returned a campaign contribution that violated donation limits, while Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has refused to do the same.

Benson and Whitmer collected contributions in excess of the $7,150 limit by arguing they were facing a recall election, which a previous Secretary of State arbitrarily ruled would exempt an elected official from limits if subjected to a recall. But Benson and Whitmer’s recall concerns were never serious as no organized effort to collect the sufficient amount of signatures — over 1 million — was ever launched.

Read the full story

As Michigan Secretary of State Benson Calls for ‘Educating Voters,’ Questions Surround Zuckerberg-Funded Nonprofit She Founded

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, speaking remotely to the American Bar Association on Monday, called for “educating voters” about supposed GOP efforts underway to “undermine democracy,” but questions remain regarding her role with the “voter education” efforts of a Mark Zuckerberg-funded nonprofit she founded. 

Benson is a former president of the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration (MCELA), an organization that received $12 million in grants from the D.C.-based Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Read the full story

Treasurer of ‘Nonpartisan’ Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration Verbally Attacked Wayne Co. GOP Election Officials Last November

Ned Staebler

Ned Staebler, the university administrator who notoriously spouted a furious tirade against two Wayne County Republican election officials in a public meeting last November, is also treasurer of an entity promoted by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) for “nonpartisan voter education.”

On November 17, 2020, Staebler, vice president for economic development at Wayne State University and head of the business-development organization TechTown Detroit, blasted county Board of Canvassers’ members Monica Palmer and William Hartmann for initially voting to block the certification of votes in Wayne County. 

Read the full story

No Word Yet from Michigan’s GOP Legislative Leaders on Any Potential Investigation of Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration

Republican leaders in either chamber of Michigan’s state legislature, both of which have GOP majorities, have yet to indicate whether they intend to investigate expenditures made by an election-related nonprofit that was founded by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D).

The Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration (MCELA), as The Michigan Star has reported, received a $12 million grant in September 2020 from a national nonprofit, the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR).

Read the full story

Michigan Nonprofit Alleges Gov. Whitmer’s Campaign Has Illegally Exploited Donation-Limit Loophole

A complaint filed by the nonprofit Michigan Freedom Fund (MFF) last week alleges that that state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has taken illegal advantage of a campaign-finance loophole to raise unlawful amounts of cash. 

Individuals may contribute up to $7,150 according to state law, though a 1984 administrative ruling by then Michigan Secretary of State Richard Austin (D) sought to negate that limit for candidates facing recalls. Whitmer has relied on that ruling in surpassing the contribution limit. 

Read the full story

Michigan Supreme Court Nixes Secretary of State Benson’s Redistricting Extension Request

The Michigan Supreme Court denied a request from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission to grant an extension for redrawing the state’s district map.

Benson and the ICRC filed a Petition for Relief with the Court in April, asking the Court to recognize the ICRC’s constitutionally imposed deadline as “unrealistic.” The petition argued the new timeline would ensure the Bureau of Elections had sufficient time to update the state’s voter registration database with the new district lines. Additionally, they argued, local clerks would be able to create and provide every voter with a correct ballot.

The extension was requested because of the six-month delay of 2020 U.S. Census data due to the coronavirus pandemic, which, it anticipated, would precipitate lawsuits. U.S. Census data is scheduled to become available Oct. 1. The ICRC was seeking to move its deadline from mid-September to Dec. 11, which would push back approval of final district maps to Jan. 25, 2022. The deadline for the filing of candidates for the November 2022 election is April 15.

Read the full story

Bill Aims to Stop Sale of Michigan Secretary of State Appointments

A bill introduced to the Michigan Legislature aims to stop the black-market sale of Secretary of State (SOS) appointments.

When SOS Jocelyn Benson in May said the state would permanently end walk-in service, arguing the walk-in system was inefficient, the announcement sparked a black market of Michiganders so desperate for an appointment some chose to pay for an otherwise free service.

Read the full story

Over 7,000 Affidavits Delivered to Michigan Lawmakers Claim Election Fraud

voters polling place

Hundreds of people concerned about the integrity of the Nov. 2020 election gathered outside the Michigan Capitol Thursday to protest and deliver roughly 7,000 affidavits claiming fraud and demanding a forensic audit.

Michigan Conservation Coalition spokesperson Matt Seely said thousands of Michigan voters have questioned the integrity of the 2020 election.

“If we do a deep-dive forensic audit similar to Arizona, it will do either one of two things. It will prove that all of the politicians who say there’s nothing to see there, that they were right. Or it will prove that there’s a big problem with the integrity of our elections and that we need to address it in a major way,” he told The Center Square in a phone interview.

Read the full story

Secretary of State Benson Calls on Lawmakers to Revamp SOS Services, Give Unspecified Amount of Money

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Thursday asked for an unspecified amount of money to completely revamp the Michigan Department of State (MDOS).

The money would be used to provide “pop-up” offices, provide virtual interactions instead of in-person, and pass other laws that would result in less interaction with the department.

“Michiganders can now complete most of their transactions online, by mail or at one of our new self-service stations located at their local grocery store,” Benson said. “And the remaining in-person transactions are carried out by appointment, ensuring the vast majority of customers have little to no wait time.”

Read the full story

Michigan SOS Benson Asks Top Court to Push Back Redistricting Committee Deadline

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has filed suit with the Michigan Supreme Court to ensure the public has time to provide feedback on the new voting district maps that will be drawn by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC). 

The suit describes the current constitutional deadline as unrealistic since it requires the commission to make maps available for 45 days of public comment starting on Sept. 17, even though the U.S. Census Bureaus won’t have official data until Sept. 30. The U.S. Census Bureau cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the delay.

Read the full story

Michigan AG and Sec. of State Block Results of Forensic Audit of 22 Dominion Machines in Antrim County

A Northern Michigan judge has allowed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to block the results of a forensic audit of Dominion machines in Antrim County, where thousands of votes for President Trump were flipped to Joe Biden.

Chief Judge Kevin A. Elsenheimer last week issued an order granting a local man, William Baily, permission for a forensic examination of the county’s 22 Dominion tabulators.

Read the full story

Michigan Secretary of State Spokesperson: Post Alleging 118-Year-Old Man Who Voted by Absentee Ballot Was Probably Just a Mistyped Entry

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s spokesperson stated that a viral post alleging that a 118-year-old man voted was true, but was probably due to a mistyped entry. Fact-checkers said that they discovered another individual with the same name in the area.

The post featured a screen recording: an individual typed in “William Bradley” into the state’s voter information page, followed by a birth date and zip code. Immediately, the search returned with Bradley’s city clerk information as well as a confirmation that an absentee ballot had been received.

Read the full story

Michigan’s Top Elections Official Says That Results Won’t Be Available November 3

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Sunday that it could take up to a week to count all of Michigan’s absentee ballots for November’s election.

“We should be prepared for this to be closer to an election week, as opposed to an Election Day,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The bottom line is we are not going to have the full results and a counting of all of our ballots on election night.”

Benson said that Michigan’s election officials were “laser-focused” on ensuring that all ballots are counted accurately, and referenced how her office had purchased more voting tabulators in order to ensure that the influx of absentee ballots could be counted as efficiently as possible.

Read the full story

Michigan and Ohio Secretaries of State Endorse Zuckerberg’s Millions Directed to Elections

Michigan and Ohio state secretaries Jocelyn Benson and Frank LaRose endorsed $300 million directed to elections by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) and Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) announced Tuesday that Zuckerberg and his wife donated in order “to promote safe and reliable voting in states and localities.”

Both Benson and LaRose agreed that the investment was necessary considering the pandemic’s effects on the presidential election. LaRose reposted the press release the day it came out, citing the need for accurate information during voting.

Read the full story

Coalition Files Lawsuits to Stop Gov. Whitmer From Silencing Free Speech in Elections, Secretary of State Benson From Undermining Absentee Ballot Integrity

A coalition filed two lawsuits in Michigan on Monday, a federal case against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allegedly silencing political speech, and a state suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for reportedly circumventing state law protecting the right of Michiganders to have their vote properly counted.

The lawsuits were announced on a new website launched by the coalition: Got Freedom? The website is available here.

Read the full story

Michigan Governor Signs Executive Order Creating ‘Task Force on Women in Sports’

  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Monday establishing a new Task Force on Women in Sports. “Multiple studies have documented that women who play sports are more likely to seek and fill leadership roles in other sectors. Yet even with the enactment of Title IX nearly fifty years ago, opportunities for girls and women in sports, while improved, remain severely limited,” the executive order states. In the executive order, Whitmer suggests that “limitations” on female athletes “intersect with what is now a pivotal moment for gender equality and opportunity in Michigan.” “Female athletes defy gender stereotypes, serve as role models, and widen perspectives,” the executive order continues. “This inequity in access and opportunity prevents girls and women in this state from fully accessing the benefits in leadership development that sports can provide—to the detriment of not only these girls and women, but also this state, which stands to gain from their leadership.” The executive order establishes the “creation of the Task Force on Women in Sports,” which will be overseen by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The task force is charged with assessing “the history of and current landscape for girls and women in sports in…

Read the full story

Group That Spent Millions to Help Elect Michigan’s New Governor Forced to Dissolve for Campaign Violations

A political group that helped elect Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) was recently required to pay a $37,500 and dissolve within 60 days after being found responsible for violating campaign finance laws. Whitmer’s own campaign committee was also found guilty of coordinating with Build a Better Michigan on advertisements, though it’s yet unclear what specific penalties it will face. According to Bridge Michigan, Democratic Secretary of State Joceyln Benson concluded that Build a Better Michigan engaged in “express advocacy” in certain advertisements rather than the “issue advocacy” the ads claimed to be. The specific examples cited by Benson in her letter to Build a Better Michigan’s attorney include the use of “candidate” in front of Whitmer’s name in one ad, and encouraging voters to take specific actions in another. “The closing line of both ads, ‘tell your legislators, let’s get it done,’ does not satisfy the above definition of ‘issue advocacy.’ At no point does the content of the ad take a position on a specific issue. Instead the ads clearly identified then-candidate Gretchen Whitmer by name as a candidate for the office of Governor, rendering them express advocacy,” Benson explains in a letter to attorney Graham Wilson. As such, the…

Read the full story