Jocelyn Benson

Jocelyn Benson (born October 22, 1977) is an American activist, politician, and former academic administrator. She is the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan. Benson is a former dean of Wayne State University Law School, a co-founder of the Military Spouses of Michigan, and a board member of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. She is the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process (2010).

In 2018, Benson was elected Secretary of State by an 8.9 percentage point margin, defeating Republican Mary Treder Lang and becoming the first Democrat to hold the office since Richard H. Austin left office in 1995. She was reelected in 2022, defeating Republican Kristina Karamo by 14 percentage points, the largest margin and vote share of any statewide candidate that year.

Education and career
Benson graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College in 1999, where she founded the now-annual Women in American Political Activism conference and was the first student to be elected to serve in the governing body for the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. She subsequently earned her master's in sociology as a Marshall Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, conducting research into the sociological implications of white supremacy and neo-Nazism.

Prior to attending law school, Benson also lived in Montgomery, Alabama, where she worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center as an investigative journalist, researching white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations. Benson has also worked as a summer associate for voting rights and election law for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and as a legal assistant to Nina Totenberg at National Public Radio.

Benson received her JD from Harvard Law School, where she was a general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. From 2002 to 2004, she served as the Voting Rights Policy Coordinator of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a non-profit organization that sought to link academic research to civil rights advocacy efforts, where she worked on the passage of the federal Help America Vote Act.

Upon graduation from Harvard Law, Benson moved to Detroit to serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Wayne Law
Benson was appointed dean of Wayne State Law School in December 2012 at the age of 35, becoming the youngest woman to lead a top 100 law school in United States history.

As dean she established two "marquee" programs: the Levin Center at Wayne Law, chaired by former United States Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), and the Program on Entrepreneurship and Business Law, which helps aspiring business professionals in underserved communities participate in the economic revival of Detroit.

Prior to being appointed Dean in 2012, Benson was the associate director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, where she started the Michigan Allies Project, an effort designed to track hate incidents throughout Michigan and provide legal support for victims.

The Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality
From 2016 to 2018 Benson served as CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE),

Military Spouses of Michigan
In 2012, Benson joined with three military spouses and family members in Michigan to create Military Spouses of Michigan, a network dedicated to providing support and services to military family members and veterans in Michigan. In January 2013, the group was selected to represent the state of Michigan in the Presidential Inaugural Parade, the only group of military spouses to receive that honor.

Civics education and election law
In 2011, Benson was selected to serve with retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the national board of directors of iCivics, Inc., a nonprofit created by Justice O'Connor to improve civics education throughout the country. In addition to serving as an appointed member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Election Law, she is also the founder and current director of the Michigan Center for Election Law, which hosts projects that support transparency and integrity in elections. In 2011, the center hosted Michigan's first "Citizens' Redistricting Competition", providing an opportunity for Michigan citizens to access software and draw their own redistricting maps for the state.

Benson developed and supervised three statewide nonpartisan election protection efforts in Michigan in 2007, 2008 and 2012.  During the 2008 election, she was called to testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, where she called on Secretary Terri Lynn Land to ban the use of foreclosure lists to challenge voters' eligibility on Election Day. She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and election law on local news and radio broadcasts.

In 2007, Benson worked with several groups to successfully keep a Secretary of State branch office open in Buena Vista Township, Michigan. The U.S. Department of Justice, under then-President George W. Bush, concluded that the closure of the office would violate the Voting Rights Act.

Secretary of State
 
In March 2010, Benson published her first book, State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process. The book highlights best practices of secretaries of state from throughout the country and seeks to inform voters about how secretaries of state across the political spectrum can work to advance democracy and election reform. After working with secretaries of state from around the country while researching the book, she was inspired to run for the office in her resident state of Michigan. She lost to Republican candidate Ruth Johnson by a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent.

On October 27, 2017, Benson announced her second candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State. She was elected on November 6, 2018, defeating Republican Mary Treder Lang, becoming the first Democrat to serve since Richard Austin left office in 1995. In 2022, Benson secured her party's nomination uncontested and went on to win the general election with 56% of the vote, defeating Republican candidate candidate Kristina Karamo.

Benson has gained national prominence, making frequent appearances on cable news shows, appearing on the cover of Time magazine alongside fellow election officials, and testifying before Congress about the challenges election workers have encountered in recent years.

During Benson's administration, some controversies occurred over the Michigan Bureau of Elections' guidance to clerks regarding signature matching on absentee ballots in advance of the 2020 presidential election, which stated – as in previous elections – that signature review should begin with the presumption that the signature is the voter's valid signature, and should be rejected if it differs in clear and obvious respects to the signature on file. (Michigan law requires clerks to match required signatures on absentee ballot applications and absentee ballot envelopes with the voter signature on file to ensure the person submitting the ballot is the same one registered to vote in Michigan.)

In March 2021, State Court of Claims Judge Christopher M. Murray ruled that in order to be binding on clerks, the Bureau of Elections should issue signature-matching instructions as an administrative rule (which the Bureau is now in the process of doing). Judge Murray stated "the mandatory presumption goes well beyond the realm of mere advice and direction." The court found the content of Bureau's instructions violated the state administrative procedures act. The Bureau subsequently completed the APA process and the rules are now in effect.

Customer service reforms 
Throughout her tenure, Benson has implemented reforms in the Secretary of State's office, including filling vacancies, expanding online services, installing over 150 new self-service stations, and seeking state funding for additional mobile offices. She significantly increased the proportion of services conducted outside of branches, reaching about 60% of transactions online, by mail, or at self-service stations as of May 2021, up from about 25% in 2018. In April 2021, Benson announced that appointment-only visits to secretary of state offices would become permanent.
Despite criticisms calling for the reintroduction of walk-in services, Benson defended retaining the system even after the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the benefits of next-day appointments for urgent matters and the overall reduction in wait times, providing a more efficient process.

Election initiatives 
In the year of her election, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing Election Day voter registration and unrestricted absentee ballots. Benson's office oversaw the implementation of these changes. During Benson's tenure, in 2019, the Election Modernization Advisory Committee was established. Comprising 27 local and national experts, the committee played a pivotal role in shaping election reform and was considered a key component of Michigan's preparation for the 2020 elections. She also established an Election Security Commission consisting of 18 experts in cybersecurity and election security. The commission, funded by a federal election security grant and facilitated by state employees, aimed to enhance election integrity.

Since 2020, Benson has emerged as one of the prominent state-level advocates defending American elections. Prior to the 2020 presidential election, Benson identified precincts across the state with the lowest participation rates and visited them to understand how she could assist residents in exercising their right to vote. She has advocated for and enacted initiatives to streamline the registration process, maintain accurate voter identification, and increase the number of eligible voters. Benson facilitated voter registration by allowing online registration in advance with approved identification and in-person registration on Election Day. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she initiated the distribution of absentee ballots well in advance of the election and spearheaded the state's inaugural campaign to enlist and train a new generation of poll workers. Benson mailed absentee voter applications to all 7.7 million Michigan registered voters for the August primary and November general election, citing the need for equal access and health protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort was funded by $4.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funding from the CARES Act. In June, she initiated a platform enabling registered voters to apply for an absentee ballot online, using their state ID and last four digits of their Social Security numbers. Voters were also allowed to submit a scanned, signed copy of their absentee ballot application via email. Benson also played a role in developing an online ballot-tracking tool for absentee ballots.

Benson's administration has worked on improving voter education for students in high schools and colleges statewide, a factor in Michigan achieving the highest youth voter turnout in the 2022 election, where 18 to 29-year-olds participated at a rate of 37%, surpassing the national average of 23%, according to Tufts University's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. In August 2019, she initiated the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force to address challenges that could hinder the voting capabilities of young citizens. Her administration has collaborated with local clerks and colleges, such as the University of Michigan's robust early voting site, and has engaged in programs like MI Vote Matters with high schools, facilitating convenient voting for students and encouraged voter registration among 17- and 18-year-olds.

Michigan's 2020 presidential election marked a historic turnout, exceeding 5.5 million voters. Benson credited the achievement to prioritized voter education, enhanced accessibility and a surge in absentee voting, with 3.1 million registered voters choosing to cast their ballots by mail. She has upheld the integrity of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan and has refuted unfounded allegations of voter fraud from former President Donald Trump and has stated that the attempts to delegitimize the election ultimately resulted in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Local elections in May also achieved a "record-breaking turnout," with 25% of registered  voters participating, of which 99% voted by mail or in a drop box—significantly surpassing the 10-year average turnout of 12% in local May elections.

In preparation for the 2024 presidential election, Benson, alongside other Democratic leaders, has collaborated on the Democracy Playbook, a set of over 40 recommendations by the NewDEAL Forum aimed at enhancing election systems nationwide, with a focus on election integrity, voting access, and civic engagement. In July 2023, she confirmed that federal prosecutors interviewed her for "several hours" in March as part of the ongoing criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. While not divulging specific details, Benson highlighted the investigators' focus on the impact of misinformation on election workers' lives and threats. Benson is an advocate for stricter penalties against those who harass election workers and for increased funding to support elections. She aims both to explicitly prohibit and to enhance penalties for threatening election officials, 'doxxing,' and pressuring them to violate the law. She has highlighted legislative goals that involve tightening rules on petition signature gathering, holding accountable those who mislead voters, and securing more funds for municipalities to conduct elections.

Criticism, lawsuits and threats 
As Trump voiced concerns about potential election fraud associated with absentee voting, his criticism particularly targeted Benson's mailing effort. He called Benson a "rogue Secretary of State" and initially threated to withhold federal funds for coronavirus relief, but later retracted his threat. Court rulings affirmed Benson's legal authority to mail absentee ballot applications to all registered voters in Michigan in 2020, while the state auditor discredited Republican claims of fraudulent ballots from deceased voters, highlighting that the 2,775 problematic votes represented only 0.02% of the 11,725,897 votes cast in the eight reviewed elections, with 98.5% of these few votes being cast by electors who died within 40 days of the elections. On December 7, 2020, reportedly armed pro-Trump demonstrators gathered outside her home, echoing Trump's election fraud claims. The demonstrators chanted and made threatening demands to overturn Michigan's election results, linking the incident to broader efforts by Trump and his legal team to challenge the election outcome. No arrests were made and police confirmed that there were no breaches of criminal law throughout the demonstration. Benson faced death threats for her role in overseeing the 2020 election. In January 2020, a 72-year-old man was arrested after evidence was found in his home related to violent threats he directed at Benson. In December 2022, she stated that threats from election deniers that started in 2020 had not ceased. In May 2023, she claimed in an interview that after the election, Trump suggested she be tried for treason and possibly executed, an accusation he denied. In October 2023, a 60-year-old man from Detroit was sentenced to 15 months of probation after threatening to kill Benson and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Benson's efforts to modernize and expand access to elections have faced legal challenges, with GOP officials claiming the mailings are illegal and could result in fraudulent activities, although the decision was compliant with the Michigan constitution and upheld in court. Michigan GOP lawmakers, such as Benson's predecessor Ruth Johnson, criticized her for using COVID-19 relief funds to mail absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Republicans argued that the move could compromise election security and lead to voter fraud. Despite disputes and claims of potential fraudulent activities, experts argued that the multiple verification requirements in place make a significant increase in fraud unlikely. In response to concern over applications reaching dead or relocated individuals, Benson has contended that the mass mailing aids in identifying and removing inactive or deceased voters, and emphasized the long-standing signature verification measures as safeguards against fraud.

Ethics reforms 
Aiming to address the state's 2015 ranking as the lowest in the U.S. for ethics and transparency, Benson has advocated for ethics reforms and emphasized the need for transparency in the state's government in the wake of various scandals. She has aimed to enhance citizens' understanding of influence in Lansing, with financial disclosures as a starting point and the possibility of addressing dark money accounts.
In March 2021, Benson introduced a legislative agenda called "From Worst to First" to enhance government transparency, coinciding with Sunshine Week.  The proposed measures included expanding the Freedom of Information Act to cover the governor and Legislature, requiring personal financial disclosures from elected officials, demanding more frequent campaign disclosures, and tightening regulations to prevent secret and foreign money in Michigan elections. In 2023, she criticized inaction from legislators, describing the state's lobbying and campaign finance laws as "far, far behind" other states.

Personal life
A long-distance runner, Benson averages two full marathons per year. She has completed twenty-three full marathons since 2005, including races in New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco, Washington DC, Florence, Venice, Chicago and Philadelphia. She completed her 18th marathon representing Team Red White and Blue in Rome, Italy. In 2016 she completed her second Boston Marathon and became one of a handful of women in history to complete the Boston Marathon while more than eight months pregnant. She is married to SGT Ryan Friedrichs, retired army airborne infantry and former Chief Development Officer for the City of Detroit, and has one son.

Political career
Benson was among several high-profile Democratic officials viewed as potential contenders for the 2024 U.S. Senate race in Michigan to take the seat of retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow.  Benson announced that she would not enter the race in a March 2023 Twitter video and said she would instead be focused on protecting democracy and elections in Michigan in her role as Secretary of State. She is considering a run for the open Michigan Governor's seat in 2026 according to reporting.

Awards
Crain's Detroit Business named her one of Michigan's "Most Influential Women" in 2016 and in October 2015, she became one of the youngest women in the state's history to be inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, second only to Serena Williams. In 2022, Benson was named as one of five recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her efforts to protect democracy. On January 6, 2023, Benson was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden, for her "undaunted and unflinching" work in performing "exemplary public service to advance free and fair elections."

Electoral history

References

External links

 Government website
 Campaign website

1977 births
Living people
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
American legal scholars
Harvard Law School alumni
Lawyers from Detroit
Marshall Scholars
Michigan Democrats
Secretaries of State of Michigan
Wayne State University faculty
Wellesley College alumni
Women state constitutional officers of Michigan
Women in Michigan politics
American women legal scholars
American women academics
Presidential Citizens Medal recipients