Benson Pushes Back as the Petition Fight Heats Up
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat candidate for governor, is still fighting over the Americans for Citizens Only Voting petition and the broader dispute over who gets to check Michigan’s voter rolls for non-citizens. According to the source report, Benson’s side has replied in the Supreme Court fight involving Justice Brett Kavanaugh, arguing against review of the case. That is a mighty interesting position when Michigan voters across party lines appear to agree on the basic point: non-citizens should not vote in Michigan elections. A Remington Group poll cited in the report found that 87% of Michigan voters, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, said they do not support non-citizens voting in state elections. In other words, this is not exactly a fringe idea unless common sense has now been reassigned to the basement office.
The State System Keeps the Key in Lansing
The core concern raised by critics is that Benson and Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater do not need a law saying only they may check citizenship because, according to the report, the system is built so meaningful checks cannot happen without them. Michigan’s Bureau of Elections controls the Qualified Voter File. Local clerks can view the state file and edit records in their own city or township, but they cannot add a citizenship flag. The report also states that the one Michigan agency listed by USCIS for voter-registration SAVE access is the Department of State in Lansing, not Wayne County, Detroit, or a township clerk. Since Secretary of State branches handle automatic voter registration, critics argue that once a name is on the statewide voter list, the local clerk cannot use the federal citizenship-check system, and a “non-citizen” notation on a driver’s license record does not automatically tell Lansing to remove that person from the rolls.
DOJ Wanted the Full Rolls, Benson Said No
The report says Benson and Brater have also kept others away from the full voter file. The Department of Justice requested unredacted voter rolls, including dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. Benson refused that request, and courts have so far allowed the refusal to stand, according to the source article. For voters who already distrust election bureaucracy, that is not going to calm many nerves. When the government says, “trust us,” while also saying, “no, you cannot check,” people tend to notice. Funny how that works.
709,841 Signatures, Then Months of Waiting
Last Monday, August 24, hundreds of Michigan residents packed the Michigan Board of Canvassers meeting in Lansing to defend the Americans for Citizens Only Voting petition. The petition was submitted with 709,841 signatures, which the report says was 59.1% above the 446,198 minimum needed to make the ballot. ACVM submitted the petitions on March 4, 2026, more than four months before the July 6 filing deadline and eight months before Election Day. The Bureau of Elections then sat on the signatures for five and a half months, according to the report. Staff did not release the 1,000-signature sample until July 24, and the staff report claiming the petition was 17 signatures short came out on August 17. That was 166 days after the boxes were delivered, leaving the campaign just 17 days to fight challenges, gather affidavits, and appear before the Board of State Canvassers on August 24.
Signature Matching Suddenly Became Very Important
At the meeting, the Michigan Board of Canvassers was asked to review signatures from the random sample that Brater’s staff rejected because they said the petition signatures did not match signatures on file. Many attendees reportedly noted that their own signatures have changed over time, which is not exactly breaking news to anyone who has signed a grocery receipt, a tax form, and a birthday card in the same week. The report also points to an obvious tension: six years earlier, Benson told clerks to ignore signature matching when accepting absentee ballots and to assume the signature matched. Yet in this petition fight, signature matching was treated as the main event.
Affidavits Put Rejected Signatures Back in Play
Attorneys working with ACVM obtained 23 affidavits from people in the 1,000-signature sample whose signatures had been rejected by Bureau of Elections staff, according to the report. Those affidavits were intended to prove that the questioned signatures were valid. The attorneys provided 19 affidavits by the 10 a.m. Saturday deadline and delivered four more on Saturday, though the exact delivery time for the final four was unclear in the report. That left the fight focused on a razor-thin margin, a slow state review, and whether Michigan voters will get a chance to decide for themselves that only citizens should vote in their elections.
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS! PLEASE COMMENT BELOW.
JIMMY
Find more articles like this at steadfastandloyal.com.
The post Benson Fights Review After 709,841-Signature Citizens-Only Voting Petition appeared first on Steadfast and Loyal.
Source by [author_name]
