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Michigan’s top election official is locked in a clamorous legal battle with Republican lawmakers over access to election training materials, a conflict that likely has less to do with policy than politics — and the coming race for governor.
And if the battle continues at its current volume, voter trust in Michigan’s elections could take a beating.
On one side is Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who won her 2022 re-election race by nearly 14 percentage points and is now a leading Democratic candidate for governor. Since 2019, she has been a key part of the Democratic power structure in the executive branch and the face of election oversight in a swing state that became a target of heavy scrutiny and conspiracy theories after Donald Trump’s 2020 loss.
On the other side is the Michigan state House, back under Republican control since January, which has subpoenaed her, sued her, and even made moves to impeach her.
Leading the charge there is Rep. Rachelle Smit, a Republican and former township clerk from Martin who took over in January as chair of the House Committee on Election Integrity. For several months, she has been seeking access to the Department of State’s election training portal to check for “flawed guidance.” Benson and her office have been pushing back.
With each day, the confrontation over election manuals looks more and more like a mobilization for next year’s political campaigns, where Republicans hope to retake the governor’s mansion after eight years of being shut out of statewide office. Benson is one of the people who stand in the way.
Smit hasn’t identified specific concerns about the content of the training manuals, but has instead cited what she calls a “concerning track record” of illegal guidance from Benson, based on the fact that Benson’s office has faced many election-related lawsuits, and has lost some of them.
“The Michigan House Committee on Election Integrity has a duty to provide oversight,” Smit told Votebeat. “We seek to review the training materials to ensure MDOS is properly training clerks on the law.”
Benson’s office has not provided access to all the documents upon request, citing concerns over information security. That has prompted an escalating series of steps by the Republicans to challenge Benson for the access, and countermoves by Benson to defend her office’s response.
Their dispute is now before the Michigan Court of Claims, which has set deadlines for filing legal briefs, though an actual resolution could be weeks away. Meanwhile, both sides are using the fight as fodder for fund-raising appeals.
Conflict heats up after power shift in the House
The conflict has simmered for months, but escalated after Republicans reclaimed the House in November’s election. That’s when Smit requested access to the state’s election training portal, which provides manuals and tools for local officials.
Smit said the Department of State initially couldn’t fulfill her request. She then filed a public-records request and was told it would require 140 hours and nearly $9,000 to fulfill — a cost she called “ridiculous.”
Shortly after, Smit was named the chair of the House election committee, newly renamed the Committee on Election Integrity. She then sent another request for the information, which the Department of State said it would fulfill in part. But the requested documents never came. At Smit’s request, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for the documents.
Republicans say the subpoena was necessary to ensure the balance of power in Michigan government. Smit’s office did not respond to Votebeat questions on what specific concerns prompted the inquiry.
Benson, whose office also handles motor vehicle services, has faced numerous challenges to her guidance and conduct of elections — more election lawsuits than her last four predecessors combined. But her record is better than that of past secretaries from both parties. A review by the Michigan Information & Research Service found that while Benson has lost some election-related lawsuits, she has won significantly more cases than her predecessors.
Several cases have had mixed rulings, like a lawsuit from the Republican National Committee over voter signatures on absentee ballots, where part of Benson’s guidance was struck down while other pieces were allowed to remain in place. Out of 69 total cases since 2019, Benson’s office had five “losses,” according to the MIRS analysis.
Department of State spokesperson Angela Benander said the cost estimate the department gave Smit after the November request followed state Freedom of Information Act requirements, including producing the records and redacting sensitive sections. “We are now well above that,” she said, noting that more than 20 staff members have worked on it over recent weeks.
The Department of State said it made multiple offers to provide the requested materials securely with redactions, but the Oversight Committee rejected them. The subpoena sought information that could jeopardize election security, Benander told Votebeat in April, by risking the chain of custody of ballots and revealing specific locations for trainings for election officials, among other concerns. Election workers across the state have faced threats of violence in recent years.
The department then went public, posting information about the documents it had already shared with lawmakers. Benson reiterated the department’s position that releasing sensitive information could jeopardize election security.
“This is true even if those seeking the information are well-intentioned,” she said in May. “Each time sensitive information is released, its risk of misuse increases.”
Since then, she has issued regular updates, sharing more documents, doubling down on security concerns, and preparing for a legal showdown.
Republicans have also escalated: On May 22, the House voted along party lines to hold Benson and the entire Department of State in contempt. On June 3, Rep. Jim DeSana, a Republican from Carleton, introduced articles of impeachment against her in a House resolution, alleging that she abused her authority, mishandled records, and intimidated local officials in the way she oversaw the state’s elections.
Then, earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee sued Benson and her department, alleging they were refusing to provide the training documents “in their irrational and even conspiratorial objections to the House Subpoenas.”
Benson said in a statement that she welcomed the suit as a chance to resolve the matter in court.
What will voters make of the Benson vs. GOP fight?
While the battle has been useful for driving fund-raising campaigns — for both Benson and the Republicans — it’s unlikely to swing any votes so far out from an actual election, David Dulio, a political science professor at Oakland University, told Votebeat.
The House GOP effort might be intended to damage Benson’s campaign, he said, “but the people who they would want to persuade aren’t paying attention. They have other stuff to worry about.”
Jeffrey Bernstein, a political science professor at Eastern Michigan University, agreed. Those who are most tuned in to politics probably have already formed their opinions on how Michigan’s elections are run, he said.
“People are going to start paying attention soon enough,” he said, “but there will be other things happening then to occupy their attention.”
Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, a political science professor at Wayne State University, worries, though, that such a pitched conflict in Lansing could have a lasting effect for people who aren’t so tuned into politics by casting a “vague and hazy” cloud over elections.
Even this far out from an election, she told Votebeat, “when you start casting doubt on integrity, public trust suffers.”
The best case scenario, Sarbaugh-Thompson said, is a quick ruling from the courts to quiet the entire issue. But she doesn’t expect quiet anytime soon.
Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org.
