Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson believes she has what it takes to be the next governor of Michigan, but her track record in her current position suggests otherwise.
“I know how to make government work – not because I’ve talked or posted about it,” Benson posted to X on Saturday. “But because I have done it very day as Michigan’s Secretary of State.”
The online self-promotion comes as Benson prepares to run her own election to replace a term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026, an effort that’s ramping up with a recent statewide tour of “Purpose Driven Community Conversations” and a book launch in May.
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Benson’s early push to position herself as the Democratic nominee for governor centers largely on presenting herself as a “purposeful warrior” for Democracy and Michigan taxpayers, just a few years after she shut her constituents out of secretary of state offices.
Benson closed all 131 Secretary of State branch offices on March 13, 2020, and stationed staff at each to turn away Michiganders in need of driver’s license renewals, title transfers, and other essential services during the pandemic.
Instead, Benson forced residents to conduct their business online, or through scheduled appointments that required them to wait months for services that previously took less than an hour.
Despite a year of constant complaints from her constituents, Benson opted in May 2021 to make the change permanent, infuriating lawmakers in rural areas where many struggled with limited reliable internet and other issues that made the online option impossible.
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“The lack of reliable internet access makes online transactions inconvenient at best and impossible at worst. In fact, constituents often contact our office asking us to make appointments for them online,” 11 lawmakers wrote in a May 2021 letter to Benson urging her to reconsider her approach. “While we are happy to assist them, this additional step should not be necessary.”
“The fact that our staff are asked to make these appointments reveals yet another glaring concern,” the letter continued. “Online appointments are typically only available for dates a month or more in the future, leaving many constituents to wait for extended periods of time before their needs are met.
“As a consequence, many appointments cannot be scheduled until after an individual’s driver’s license has already expired (as an example). When next-day appointments do become available at 8 AM or noon on a given weekday, the website is often overloaded by those who are trying to schedule appointments. This causes the website to freeze or crash.”
The lawmakers noted the issue was especially frustrating for residents who had questions about services needed, as they were forced into lengthy waits on a single statewide call line to get answers.
“For all the foregoing reasons, we strongly encourage you to take action and to implement policies that will make the SOS more accessible to all Michiganders, who are already struggling to live under the burdens imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” lawmakers wrote. “The current situation is unacceptable. The resources your department provides should be made available in a timely and effective manner, regardless of geography.”
Instead, Benson doubled down on policies to keep Michiganders out of branch offices, and defended her decisions in a House Oversight Committee regarding the issues in May 2021.
“I am trying to completely innovate and reframe…how we do business with our citizens in a way that takes advantage of ideas, takes advantage of what the data says people want, and implements solutions,” Benson testified, according to Bridge Michigan.
Benson alleged the appointments-only approach was great for residents because “no one is forced to take time off work or pay for childcare to wait in line for hours at a branch office.”
“We’re going to listen to the people on this,” Benson told the Associated Press in April 2021, ignoring the call from lawmakers. “It’s clear that (they) do not want us to go backwards to the old ways of doing things, where on any given day you could spend hours waiting for a basic transaction in any given branch office.”
Instead of taking ownership of the problems, Benson blamed lawmakers at the oversight hearing for extending expiration dates on licenses and vehicle registrations amid the pandemic.
She also vowed to continue to reduce in-person transactions from about 40% in 2020 to 25% or less. Yet despite the reduced in-person capacity, Benson insisted her office needed another $8 million in revenue to hire more staff and create “pop-up” branches in grocery stores, Bridge reports.