The Department of Justice has finally come for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for questions about her compliance with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.
In a request from Assistant Attorney General Michael Gates, Benson has been asked to provide:
- A complete copy of Michigan’s current voter registration list, including an explanation of the system used to assign unique ID numbers to voters
- An explanation of her process for removing ineligible Michigan voters from the voter rolls
- An explanation of her process in determining which voters receive voter confirmation letters and how voters who have not confirmed their eligibility are removed
- Why Michigan has so many duplicate voter registrations and her process for removing duplicate registered voters
- An explanation on why there are so many voters registered without a driver’s license and clarification on Michigan’s process for verifying voter ID
- An accounting of the voters who have been removed due to non-citizen, incompetency, and felony convictions including the voting history of these voters
All of these questions come after years of questions about the security of Michigan elections under Benson, who is now running to be Michigan’s next governor.
In October, a Chinese national at the University of Michigan registered to vote, voted, and his vote counted in the 2024 presidential election. Since then, it has been determined at least 15 other non-citizens voted, with the number potentially being much higher, as Michigan residents are not required to show proof of ID or citizenship.
Charlie LeDuff, through an auditor general inspection, previously reported Benson’s staff was only keeping proof of residency and social security numbers for Real ID applicants half the time, a potential violation of the Help America Vote Act.
Last year, Benson faced litigation about her process for removing deceased voters from Michigan voter rolls. In March, she agreed to remove 318,000 voters, but we will have to wait until 2027 until the next wave of ineligible voters is removed.
Benson was asked to provide the information to the DOJ within 14 days. Benson hasn’t complied with the Michigan legislature on questions relating to her election system. Will this time be any different?
If she has nothing to hide, why is she so reluctant to turn over the information?
The pressure is on. If Benson wants to be Michigan’s next governor, she has some explaining to do.
Anna Hoffman is a hockey mom of three living in Ann Arbor. Follow her on X @shoesonplease.
