Michigan’s top election official is stirring up a storm with new rules that critics warn could open the door to voter fraud.
Just The News reported that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat with gubernatorial ambitions, has proposed changes to voter roll maintenance that have election integrity watchdogs sounding the alarm, while the U.S. Department of Justice is simultaneously suing the state over inadequate list management.
Benson’s proposed rules, recently sent to the state’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) for review, aim to extend the period for removing inactive voter registrations to a whopping 20 years based on a lack of voting activity.
With Michigan already sitting on over 558,000 inactive registrations, according to the Michigan Fair Elections Institute (MFEI), this extended timeline has raised eyebrows among those concerned about ballot integrity.
A September report from MFEI revealed that in a random sample of long-inactive registrations, 28% had errors—think deceased individuals, dual registrations, or nonresidents still on the books.
Patrice Johnson, founder of MFEI and Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME), didn’t mince words on the potential fallout: “With 28.2 million Americans moving annually, this means ballots could be mailed to addresses where voters haven’t lived in decades.”
Adding fuel to the fire, another rule demands that anyone challenging a voter’s eligibility must swear to having “personal knowledge” of the ineligibility, narrowly defined as firsthand observation.
Forget using postal service data, online records, or even neighborly intel—those don’t count under Benson’s tight restrictions, and clerks aren’t obligated to dig deeper if the challenge doesn’t meet the strict criteria.
If that’s not a bureaucratic roadblock, what is? This setup could make it nearly impossible to flag questionable registrations without jumping through hoops tighter than a circus act.
Meanwhile, JCAR, tasked with reviewing these rules, is deadlocked with a 5-5 split between Democrats and Republicans, and hasn’t even voted on the matter despite finally achieving a quorum after months of inaction.
If JCAR doesn’t reject the rules within 15 legislative days, they’ll automatically take effect, leaving little room for debate or revision.
PIME has filed an objection urging JCAR to scrap the rules entirely, with a review expected in the coming weeks, but neither Benson’s office nor JCAR has responded to requests for comment on the brewing controversy.
On top of this, the U.S. Department of Justice slapped Michigan and seven other states with a lawsuit in September, alleging inadequate voter roll maintenance and non-compliance with federal laws like the National Voter Registration Act.
The DOJ is demanding detailed voter data—including names, addresses, and partial Social Security numbers—to weed out duplicates and ensure only citizens are registered, but Benson has flat-out refused to comply, citing privacy concerns.
Her defiance, while framed as protecting voter information, leaves one wondering if transparency is taking a backseat to political posturing, especially as she eyes the governor’s mansion and faces growing scrutiny over election integrity in the Great Lakes State.
