Benson's Bureau Slow-Walked Citizen-Only Voting to Death

Jocelyn Benson says she has put up a “firewall” between herself and the Bureau of Elections, as the Secretary of State runs for governor.

But the differing treatment of Citizens Only Voting and Michigan Money Out of Politics—the former favored by Republicans, the latter by Democrats—casts doubt on the objectivity of Benson’s bureau.

In March, Citizens Only Voting submitted 710,000 signatures. Making the Nov. 3 ballot only required 446,000 valid signatures, but the organizers gave themselves plenty of cushion.

It didn’t matter.

Benson’s bureau slow-walked the approval process, which involves the evaluation of 1,000 signatures.

It took five months for Benson’s bureau, led by elections director Jonathan Brater, to identify the 1,000-signature sample. And wouldn’t you know it, the 1,000 signatures it sampled came up three short of the 629 it would’ve needed for approval.

Compare that to Michigan Money Out of Politics, which wants to amend state law to ban political contributions from the likes of DTE Energy and Consumers, who donate heavily to just about every Lansing politician.

In late May, Michigan Money Out of Politics submitted its signatures. By late July, it was approved for the ballot, following the recommendation of Benson’s bureau. Its 1,000-signature sample checked out just fine.

Though Republicans backed Citizens Only Voting, polling says the idea that only citizens should vote has wide approval, even among Democrats.

For decades, Democrats have used ballot measures to juice turnout. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was buoyed by pot legalization in 2018 and limitless abortion in 2022. Just as Republicans remembered how to play the game, Benson’s team did everything in its power to keep Citizens Only Voting off the ballot.

The final decision on ballot access was officially made by the Board of State Canvassers. The board is a four-member body, two Democrats and two Republicans, built to deadlock along party lines.

Board members don’t have to follow the bureau’s recommendations, but they tend to. The board is also lazy.

One Democrat, Heather Cummings, said a request to review a four-page document was “not reasonable” and “not fair.” The bureau recommended that Citizens Only Voting not pass, and the Democrats voted that way. The bureau recommended that Michigan Money Out of Politics pass, and the Democrats voted that way. That a Republican—board chair Richard Houskamp—voted yes is the only reason the question will make the ballot. That courtesy was not returned the next month, when Citizens Only Voting was under board review.

There’s a lot to not like about an even-numbered board that refuses to consider evidence. But what’s recommended to the board in the first place traces back to Benson’s bureau of elections.

In a past life, before she was ever elected Secretary of State, Benson argued that the elections bureau should be thorough in its review of signatures. That 1,000 signature might be the floor, but it’s not the ceiling, and the bureau should reach for the ceiling.

An exhaustive review, Benson wrote in a law review article in 2007, “would entail an examination of all signatures submitted and would require that all signatories be contacted in order to verify that they supported the petition.”

Secretary of State Benson would hardly recognize her past self. In 2010, when Benson first ran for Secretary of State—in a losing effort against Ruth Johnson—Benson said she would swear an “oath of nonpartisanship” if elected.

Benson swore she would refuse to endorse candidates in any race where she would be the final vote counter.

After winning in 2018, Benson took no such oath. By 2024, Benson was accused by a federal judge of “manipulating the presidential ballot.”

Jocelyn Benson has abandoned every practice and principle she claimed to embrace before she tasted power. Now she will count the votes while running for governor.

Firewall or no firewall, Benson’s bureau knows what will benefit the boss on Nov. 3.