In a move that has raised eyebrows among conservative circles, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is pushing for the implementation of potentially "illegal" new rules in line with recent changes to Michigan's election laws.
This comes despite the fact that the law, passed by Michigan's Democrat-led legislature, is not due to come into effect until next year, well after the November general election.
According to The Federalist, Senate Bill 603 (SB 603), which was signed into law by Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month, aims to "reorganize, consolidate, and add to the election laws." The law also seeks to "provide for election officials and prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, state agencies, and state and local officials and employees." However, the bill's effective date is 91 days after the final adjournment of the 2024 regular session. Despite this, Benson's office has already prepared a set of rules relating to the conduct of election recounts, ready for public comment even before Gov. Whitmer signed SB 603 into law on July 8.
A mandatory hearing for comment on this set of rules was set for June 17. These rules, which reflect the new law's provisions limiting the opportunity for recounts, defining fraud, and the ability of canvassers to investigate, were then sent to Michigans Board of State Canvassers for approval. The board, composed of two Republicans and two Democrats appointed by Gov. Whitmer, approved Bensons rules within two weeks of the bill being signed into law.
The newly approved rules regarding the conduct of election recounts centralize power at the state and county levels. Patrice Johnson, the founder of Michigan Fair Elections, expressed concern over this development. "The strength of our election system is that it is decentralized. This is an effort to centralize and move these activities to the county level," she said. "Theres only one reason they want to implement these rules early. They want to eliminate the risk of effective recount.
A second set of rules, focusing on electronic voting systems, was scheduled for a hearing last Friday. Former state senator for Michigans 7th District and Republican Patrick Colbeck, in his prepared remarks for the hearing, noted that there is notably zero mention of best practices regarding security protocols for electronic systems, and that there are zero references to their digital record equivalents such as user account, device access or network security protocols.
Colbeck, who is also the author of the book, The 2020 Coup: What Happened. What We Can Do, expressed his dissatisfaction with the process. It appeared to be a rubber stamp for their [Secretary of States] rules, Colbeck said. I submitted 126 pages of revisions; and if they arent adopted into the rules, they will likely be introduced as a court exhibit in a lawsuit. Theyve demonstrated a predisposition to ignoring the law, and we need to hold them accountable.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has threatened legal action to prevent Benson from implementing the first set of rules related to the conduct of election recounts ahead of November. Gineen Bresso, Election Integrity Director for the RNC and Trump Campaign, criticized Benson's actions. The disastrous SB 603 bill, which should never have been signed into law, does not go into effect until next year, Bresso said. Yet Jocelyn Benson has decided she can operate above and outside existing law, ram through illegal changes, and further weaken the remaining safeguards in Michigan.
Benson has a history of administrative overreach and has lost multiple election-related lawsuits. In the most recent case, she issued guidelines to the states clerks, instructing them to presume the validity of the signatures on all absentee ballots. The RNC sued Benson and won, and a Michigan Court of Claims judge ordered Benson to remove the presumption of signature validity language from the clerks guidelines. However, for the 2024 presidential primary in February, those guidelines had already been in effect.
Bensons office did not respond when asked about the RNCs allegations regarding the push to implement the new rules. The RNC has a track record of legal victory over Benson, but theres no guarantee a legal remedy to this latest example of administrative overreach will come in time for the election.
Michigan State Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Republican and former Michigan secretary of state, criticized Benson's actions. This secretary of state has made it a pattern to make rules that violate the law, Johnson said. Unfortunately, often by the time courts strike these rules down theyve already been in force for an election. Its gaming the system really.
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