With Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a war of words with John James over the 2020 election—and both running for governor in 2026—we thought it would help to look back at how Michigan was “fortified” for Joe Biden, and the central role Benson played in that.
For Benson’s help in securing the election, President Biden gave Benson a Presidential Citizens Medal in 2023. But how did she do it?
This took a mixture of Covid fear, get-out-the-vote efforts targeting Democrats, mass mailing of absentee ballot applications, and Benson’s instruction to election clerks across Michigan: Presume that mail-in ballots are all valid.
Don’t go doing the work of a clerk, and verifying and before you certify. No. If a ballot comes in, presume it’s valid, whether or not the signatures match. Count every vote.
Deciphering what happened did not require potted plants in windows or 3 a.m. parking garage rendezvous with Deep Throat. Just read Benson’s memoir, “The Purposeful Warrior,” and scan news headlines and Benson’s own statements.
Benson keeps a bloated voter roll by design. Last year, 105% of voting-age adults in Michigan were registered to vote. (USA Today had to change the claim, misrepresenting critics as saying that 105% of Michigan’s entire population was registered, just to give it a “False” rating. And even that story affirmed that Michigan has more registered voters than eligible adults.) And yet she hasn’t culled the rolls.
In May 2020, with Michigan in a “state of emergency” due to Covid-19, Benson announced she would mail absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in Michigan. This she presented as a matter of public health.
“By mailing applications, we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,” Benson said at the time. “Voting by mail is easy, convenient, safe, and secure, and every voter in Michigan has the right to do it.”
The announcement continued, with emphasis added: “Of the 7.7 million registered voters in the state, about 1.3 million are on the permanent absent voter list, and their local election clerk mails them applications ahead of every election. Additionally, some jurisdictions are mailing applications to all local registered voters. The Michigan Department of State’s Bureau of Elections has ensured all remaining registered voters receive an application.”
Not every active voter, which would be a smaller list. Every registered voter. Whether or not they still lived in Michigan. Whether or not they were even alive.
In its breakdown of the 2020 election, Pew Research Center noted that turnout in 2020 was up seven percentage points compared to 2016, “amid a global pandemic, with unprecedented changes in how Americans voted.”
Voter turnout rose seven percentage points during a global pandemic that was supposed to kill us all? The “unprecedented change” was the rise of mail-in voting and sending out applications universally, as Benson did. Absentee and mail-in voters supported Biden over Trump 65% to 33%.
Then there were the Zuckerbucks. A Benson-created nonprofit, the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration, sat dormant for years until getting a $12 million grant on the eve of the election.
Benson had officially left the nonprofit by then, but her face adorned—and still adorns— its Facebook profile. And as Secretary of State, Benson partnered with the nonprofit to inform voters of their options to vote from home. Call it a get-in-the-vote effort.
The nonprofit split the money between two Democrat-affiliated operatives: Alper Strategies and Waterfront Strategies. The voters they targeted were Democrats.
With millions spent to reach Democrat voters, and millions of ballot applications sent out, Benson then issued an edict to election clerks: Presume the validity of mail-in ballots.
But if clerks don’t verify that ballots are valid, why do we need clerks? That’s literally the job. Benson told clerks to stand down from their duty.
Her order was found illegal in 2021, but by then it didn’t matter. Biden was president, and Benson was crowing that there was no proof of widespread voter fraud. Which there could not be, as clerks were forbidden to verify.
Benson issued the same order in 2024, and it was found illegal once again. But it didn’t matter then, either. The Trump 2024 slogan was “make it too big to rig.” Support Trump in such a way that the results could not be fortified.
The bad news is that the machinery that existed in 2020 could be used again in 2026.
Jocelyn Benson might be done with the 2020 election. But as her dustup with James reveals, the 2020 election is not done with her.
James David Dickson is an enjoyer of Michigan. Join him in conversation on X: @downi75.
