Michigan Republicans have requested federal oversight of state’s 2026 elections

LANSING, Mich. — Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt on Thursday echoed President Donald Trump’s concerns that federal monitoring is needed to ensure Michigan’s 2026 elections are run fairly and legally, citing Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s record of failures and compromised ethics.

“President Trump is 100% right because Michigan voters cannot trust Jocelyn Benson,” said Nesbitt, R-Porter Township. “She continues to fight against transparency and accountability, refuses to remove dead people from our state’s voter rolls and is happy to let noncitizens vote in our elections. She’s the worst secretary of state in America and shouldn’t be running our elections without checks and balances.”

In November, Nesbitt and 21 Republican legislators sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting the Justice Department oversee the state’s 2026 primary and general elections, citing an “inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest” as Benson, the state’s chief elections official, is also on the ballot for governor.

Their request outlined serious concerns about Benson’s job performance and ability to ethically administer future statewide elections, including:

• A troubling refusal to cooperate with federal authorities, including a recent DOJ lawsuit against her and the state for failing to provide unredacted voter registration records, in violation of the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.
• A persistent failure to maintain accurate voter rolls, including her refusal to remove deceased registrants as required by federal law. Audits and investigations have revealed more than 25,000 deceased individuals remaining on Michigan’s voter rolls, prompting ongoing litigation that has escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• At least 16 noncitizens were confirmed to have cast ballots in the 2024 general election under her oversight, despite Michigan law prohibiting noncitizen voting.
• Widespread concerns that led to Michigan receiving a “D” grade for election integrity after nonpartisan audits exposed her failure to administer elections in accordance with state law going back to 2020, including the unauthorized mass mailing of absentee ballot applications to all registered voters without legislative approval.
• Over 69 election-related lawsuits, more than the combined total of Michigan’s previous four secretaries of state, challenging her handling of elections, including court rulings that found she unlawfully restricted poll challengers and violated state law by giving improper guidance on signature verification for mail ballots.

“Michigan voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are run legally and fairly. Jocelyn Benson has pushed to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, unapologetically allowed foreign nationals to vote and has lost the benefit of the doubt,” Nesbitt said.