2 weeks Ago By Reagan Reese
The Fair Election Fund, an election integrity watchdog organization, is launching a new effort to hold each secretary of state accountable in how they oversee elections, starting with Michigan’s Jocelyn Benson, the Daily Caller has learned. The Fair Election Fund is releasing a new report on Monday about Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson detailing her “performance administering recent elections with a focus on the 2024 campaign,” according to materials obtained by the Caller. The organization writes in its 51-page report, obtained by the Caller, that they are giving Benson a “D” grade, arguing that she undermined “the confidence of voters in Michigan” and even most recently admitted that at least 15 non-citizens voted in the previous election.
“Fair Election Fund’s analysis revealed numerous examples of Secretary Benson failing to enforce existing election laws. These actions resulted in lawsuits brought by election officials, concerned citizens, and a variety of organizations in the lead up to the 2024 election,” the report writes. “The lawsuits challenging Secretary Benson’s actions routinely resulted in courts finding her actions were unlawful,” the report continues.
Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State of Michigan, speaks at Living Waters Church in Redford, Michigan on November 3, 2024. (Photo by Nic Antaya for The Washington Post via Getty Images) The press release on the report notes that the organization’s review comes after Benson and the state of Michigan released its own review of the 2024 election, finding that 15 non-citizens likely voted in November. “This is a serious issue, one we must address with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” Benson wrote in a press release.
The Fair Election Fund contrasts Benson’s report with her decision on Thursday to oppose the “the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act” which would require voters to prove that they are a U.S. citizen at the polls using their passport or birth certificate.
The House of Representatives voted 220 to 208 in favor of the act on Thursday. (RELATED: Just Four Dems Vote To Keep Non-Citizens From Voting In US Elections) The organization also writes that under Benson’s watch, a Chinese national allegedly voted in the 2024 general election. Michigan officials brought charges against the Chinese national in October.
“Nine days before Election Day 2024, Haoxiang Gao — a 19-year-old Chinese national studying at the University of Michigan — registered to vote using his student ID, signed a document attesting that he was a United States citizen, and cast a ballot at an early voting site in Ann Arbor, Michigan,” the report reads. “Importantly, Gao was caught because he turned himself in by contacting the local clerk and asking for his ballot back — Benson’s voter-fraud defenses clearly failed.” The watchdog also pointed to a judge’s decision to strike down Benson’s order instructing clerks to initially presume the validity of absentee ballot signatures.
The Republican National Committee sued the Michigan secretary of state over the order. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates struck down the guidance in June, writing that it was “a foul under Michigan law.” “This was particularly egregious because this is not the first time Secretary Benson had attempted to create a presumption of validity for signatures — it was at minimum her third attempt.
In 2020, she attempted to create the presumption by including it in her guidance to clerks, which ultimately resulted in a court ruling her actions were unlawful and violated the Michigan’s administrative procedure act,” the Fair Election Fund wrote in its report. A voter walks to the polls at the Lowrey School on November 5, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) The Fair Election Fund also pointed to the state’s voter rolls and how they were maintained as a reason for their low grade for Benson.
“Benson admitted that in 2020 the Michigan voter rolls lacked ‘sufficient comprehensive efforts’ to maintain clean voter rolls, but only after she vigorously denied and fought the allegation that voter rolls were bloated,” the organization wrote. The RNC sued Benson in March 2024, alleging that the state is failing to abide by the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) requirement that voter rolls must keep “clean and accurate voter registration records.” The suit, however, was tossed out.
“While the RNC’s suit was dismissed on legal technicalities about whether they were ‘injured’ by the out-of-balance voter rolls and whether their claim was properly formatted, a conclusion the RNC is appealing, any objective comparison of Michigan’s voter roll maintenance to that of other states shows that Michigan can — and should — be more diligent in managing its voter rolls,” the Fair Election Fund writes. “Benson admitted that in 2020 the Michigan voter rolls lacked ‘sufficient comprehensive efforts’ to maintain clean voter rolls, but only after she vigorously denied and fought the allegation that voter rolls were bloated. The court in the RNC’s suit granted her a temporary reprieve, but it remains to be seen whether she will again change her tune, do an about face, and announce that the voter rolls are bloated,” the report continues.
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