Michigan’s top elections official says everyone needs to do more to set the record straight on the security and accuracy of the state’s elections.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s comments came after President Donald Trump said earlier this week that Republicans in the federal government should “nationalize” the 2026 elections. Trump also repeated lies about rigged elections in Detroit and other cities.
Several dozen bipartisan audits have disproven that lie. Each Michigan election is followed by a series of audits that officials say demonstrate the voting process is "secure and accurate."
The U.S. Constitution makes states responsible for running their own elections.
Benson said Trump is trying to “scare us” from holding his administration accountable in November. She spoke Thursday at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club -- a group Trump addressed last month.
“The insinuation that state officials or local officials have done anything but ensure our elections are secure is not rooted in fact, and it is really, in my view, long past time we stand up and make that quite clear,” Benson said.
Benson is currently running in the Democratic primary for Michigan governor. Her opponents include Genessee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, biochemist Kevin Hogan, and former Cape Coral, Florida, Mayor Marni Sawicki.
In 2025, a group of Republican Michigan lawmakers asked the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the state’s midterm elections this year. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Twp) doubled down on that request. Nesbitt is also running for governor.
“Michigan voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are run legally and fairly,” Nesbitt said in a press release while naming a list of criticisms against Benson.
That includes reports that over a dozen people who weren’t U.S. citizens may have voted in the state’s last election. That’s less than 0.00028% of the more than 5 million people who voted in Michigan in 2024, and Benson said her office determined some of the alleged noncitizen voters were, in fact, American citizens.
Experts say other states dealt with similarly small numbers of noncitizen voters and that the issue remains extremely uncommon.
Benson said not speaking the truth about the integrity of Michigan's elections would have dire consequences. She called on officials to “stand up.”
“We have all that we need here in Michigan to protect the rights and freedoms of our citizens and frankly we’re going to be better at it than anyone else who would try to come in and supplant that power,” Benson asked leaders in Michigan to affirm.
She warned that whoever wins office in 2026 will be in charge during the 2028 presidential election, which she said could be contentious.
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