Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is working through the rulemaking process to ban county canvassers from investigating voter fraud in November, despite authorizing legislation that delayed the change until 2025.
“If Secretary Benson wants to be a lawmaker, she should run for the House or Senate,” Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, said in a statement. “Until then, she should wait until bills become law before acting on them. The secretary of state is supposed to follow the state constitution, not bypass it to change election laws at will.”
Proposed election rule changes spawned by Senate Bill 603 moved to the final step of the rulemaking process on Friday as Benson’s Bureau of Elections works to implement the changes.
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Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater told Michigan Public that going through the rulemaking process, which next involves a review by a panel of lawmakers, will allow the state to put the changes in place in time for the general election in November.
That’s a problem for Republicans who opposed SB 603, which includes provisions that ban county canvassers from investigating voter fraud and increases the cost of recounts. SB 603 was ultimately passed by the legislature in party-line votes in June and was signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on July 30.
But the legislation was not granted immediate effect, which means it will not become law until at least 90 days after the legislature adjourns, which is typically in December.
Benson is attempting to speed up that timeline with a July 31 letter to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules asking to implement the changes before the 2024 general election, and the Republican National Committee is threatening a lawsuit if she’s successful.
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In a five-page letter to Benson on Wednesday, Luke Bunting, election integrity counsel for the RNC, noted the “legislature’s 2024 regular session remains ongoing, and there is no indication the Legislature is going to adjourn sine die in the near future.”
“It is contrary to … settled principles – and Constitutional separation of powers – to use the administrative rulemaking process to implement a statutory framework before it becomes effective,” Bunting wrote. “That’s especially true where the proposed rules conflict with the statutes currently in force.”
“By pushing to implement SB 603 via the rulemaking process before SB 603 becomes effective, the Bureau seeks to adopt rules that directly conflict with current Michigan law,” the letter read. “Simply put, the Bureau cannot do through the back door (rulemaking process) what the Legislature declined to accomplish through the front door (immediate effect).”
The debacle isn’t the first time Benson has ignored the law to change election rules for the benefit Democrats.
Seven different court rulings have found election guidance from her office unconstitutional, dealing with issues from carrying firearms at polling locations, to absentee signature verification, to instructions for elections challengers.
Other lawsuits, including one from 130 Michigan voters, claim Benson’s “unlawful guidance for elections” and how the Secretary of State implemented Proposal 2 reforms approved by voters in 2022, has made it “impossible for the State of Michigan to guarantee all legally eligible Michigan voters a free, fair, lawful, secure, and transparent election process in the 2024 elections.”
Still others target Benson’s stubborn refusal to purge the Michigan’s bloated voter rolls, which contain about 5% more registered voters than the state’s voting age population.
The RNC’s letter to Benson on Wednesday makes it clear more legal action could be on the way. What impact, if any, the letter may have on her efforts to block voter fraud investigations remains unclear. For all of the lawsuits that have found Benson violated the constitution in prior elections, she has yet to face any consequence.
“The RNC is committed to both free and fair elections and the rule of law. It hopes that the Bureau of Elections is too. It also hopes that the Bureau will not try to effectuate the proposed ruleset before SB 603 becomes effective,” Bunting wrote.
“If the Bureau pushes ahead in its attempt to use the rulemaking process to supplant current Michigan law before the effective date of SB 603, the RNC will not hesitate to pursue legal action.”