Fact check: Did Jocelyn Benson ‘ignore’ laws, lose election lawsuits?
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan (bridgemi.com), a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from Bridge Michigan, sign up for a free Bridge Michigan newsletter here
- Republicans claim Democratic governor candidate Jocelyn Benson ‘ignored’ the law as the state’s top election official
- Benson did lose multiple election-related lawsuits, but she was sued more often and won more cases than GOP predecessors
- Cases involved absentee ballot signatures, guns at polling places and election challenger rules
Republicans are claiming that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson is unfit for the office because she lost five election-related lawsuits as Michigan secretary of state.
This summer, GOP candidate John James said that Benson “has repeatedly ignored the law” as secretary of state. He and Jay DeBoyer, the Republican lieutenant governor candidate, have argued court rulings are evidence of Benson’s incompetence — or worse.
While Benson did lose multiple election-related lawsuits as Secretary of State, she won dozens of others.
Related fact checks:
- John James’ link to data center tax breaks, donations
- Jocelyn Benson’s family ties to Saline data center
- Dems claim John James has used Congress to enrich himself
As of mid-2025, Benson had lost five election-related lawsuits and won 57 others, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Service Bureau and first reported by MIRS news.
By comparison, Republican predecessor Ruth Johnson lost five election-related lawsuits and won 10 others over her eight years in office. Before her, Republican Terri Lynn Land lost five and won nine.
Claims about lawsuits from Benson’s time as secretary of state are among many that Bridge Michigan is fact checking ahead of the Nov. 3 election, including a claim that Benson unfairly targeted conservative petitions. The winner of the gubernatorial election will succeed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited.
The claims
In July, James told Bridge Michigan that Benson’s “election directives have been struck down five separate times after she tried to rewrite Michigan election law instead of following the law enacted by the Legislature.”
DeBoyer, James’ running mate, said this month that Benson lost five cases “because of her edicts that she has sent out with regard to election law.”
When reached for comment, James campaign spokesperson Alyvia Bailey cited five specific cases, including two related to signatures on absentee ballots, one to open-carry firearms at polling locations and one to social distancing mandates between poll workers and poll challengers during the 2020 election.
Another lawsuit James’ campaign cited, regarding rules for partisan poll challengers, made its way to the Michigan Supreme Court and was ultimately ruled in Benson’s favor.
Benson’s campaign touted her work.
“Under Jocelyn Benson’s leadership, Michigan has had back-to-back the highest turnout, most secure, most transparent elections in state history, all while Jocelyn and our democracy have been under near-constant baseless attacks,” said spokesperson Rajan Srinivasan. “Courts have consistently sided with Jocelyn as she has stood up to Trump to protect the rights and freedoms of Michiganders.”
Guns, challengers, social distancing
In 2020, Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray struck down Benson’s attempt to ban openly carried firearms at polling places, ruling that she had violated administrative law in implementing the ban. A separate Michigan law prohibits voter intimidation, he noted.
Benson’s directive had followed President Donald Trump’s calls for supporters to show up to the polls in November to watch out for fraud and for the far-right Proud Boys group to “stand back and stand by.”
In a separate lawsuit in 2020, Robert Davis, the plaintiff in the firearms case, sued Benson over mailing unsolicited absentee ballot applications. The Court of Claims upheld Benson’s directive in this case.
In 2022, Benson was sued over rules regarding partisan election challengers she implemented that year, including a rule that prohibits poll challengers from using cell phones in Absent Voter Counting Boards. While the Court of Appeals ruled against Benson, the Michigan Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Benson’s favor.
In another 2020 case, the secretary of state’s office settled a lawsuit regarding social distancing requirements at polling locations. Benson’s office had created COVID-19 pandemic guidance regarding social distancing between poll challengers and poll workers, requiring poll challengers to remain at least six feet away from poll workers.
The state agreed to settle the lawsuit and relax social distancing requirements.
Absentee voter signatures
At a press conference on Sept. 9, DeBoyer said, “Jocelyn Benson issued memorandums out of her office that did not comply with election law, like you don’t have to validate signatures” on absentee ballots.
On two separate occasions, judges struck down signature verification guidelines Benson had issued to local election clerks tasked with ensuring the signature on the ballot matches the voter signature the state has on file.
Her initial guidance, issued prior to the 2020 election, directed clerks to presume an absentee ballot signature was valid unless there were “multiple, significant and obvious respects from the signature on file.”
Allegan County Clerk Robert Genetski and the Michigan Republican Party sued Benson in December 2020 over the matter.
The case was resolved in March 2021, with a Court of Claims judge ruling that Benson did not properly follow Michigan’s Administrative Procedures Act, which governs how state agencies make rules.
In 2024, a Michigan Court of Claims judge struck down guidance from Benson’s office to initially presume the validity of signatures on absentee ballots. But the judge preserved other state rules that offer clerks broad discretion to accept signatures that don’t exactly match what’s on file.
A Democrat-approved law that took effect in early 2024 states that “an elector’s signature is invalid only if it differs in significant and obvious respects from the elector’s signature on file. Slight dissimilarities must be resolved in favor of the elector.”
Bottom line
Benson lost multiple election-related lawsuits as Secretary of State but won many others. In some cases, judges ruled she violated state administrative law by not following the prescribed process for changing election rules.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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