
<p>Election integrity against potential fraud by Democrat officials remains the headache of Republicans in many, if not all, blue states. In Michigan, this problem looms over next year’s state elections where the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is running for the Governor, meaning she will be overseeing the same election that is supposed to make her the Governor of the state. So the problem is obvious.</p>



<p>As reported by <em>Just the News</em> (November 14), nearly two dozen Republican lawmakers in Michigan, led by Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, sent a letter to Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi requesting her to let the Department of Justice (DOJ) oversee the 2026 election in the state. The letter, dated November 13, makes the point that Benson’s candidacy for the Governor’s office creates an “inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest” that puts her office’s duty of fair oversight of elections in jeopardy.</p>



<p>The problem of election integrity in Michigan is particularly serious with Secretary Benson as the election chief since she has a history of disregard for election integrity laws. The letter by the state Republicans to AG Bondi includes a few notable instances of such violations by Benson spanning the election cycles from 2020 right up to this year. As the letter notes, Benson violated Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act in January this year. Not unsurprisingly, the state’s Democrat AG Dana Nessel chose not to punish Benson for the violation but simply issued her a warning.</p>



<p>The letter also notes that in September, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Benson and the state of Michigan because she refused to hand over unredacted voter registration records requested by the Justice Department in violation of multiple federal election integrity laws. In 2024 and 2020, Benson repeatedly failed to ensure election integrity in the general elections. And if that isn’t enough, the letter has more to bring against her:</p>



<p><em>Moreover, Secretary Benson has been involved in over 69 election-related lawsuits, more than</em></p>



<p><em>the combined total of Michigan’s previous four secretaries of state, and has lost several key cases challenging her handling of elections.</em></p>



<p>Based on this long history of Benson’s repeated violations, failures, and conflicts, the Republicans in the state cannot trust her with ensuring the fairness and transparency in an election where she herself is a candidate for the state’s highest public office. And it calls for the need of federal oversight of the elections.</p>



<p>Hardly a week before the Republicans sent the DOJ the aforementioned letter, <em>Just the News</em> reported another measure by Benson that indicates her designs for interfering with the coming election’s integrity instead of safeguarding it. The story reported (November 9) on new election rules proposed by Benson that would make fraud at the ballot easier while making it more difficult to clean voter rolls.</p>



<p>The concerns over election integrity in Democrat-run states are also paralleled by similar worries in blue cities and counties within red states. Just this month, Mayor Joe Ceballos of Coldwater in Kansas was charged for illegally voting multiple times in different elections. Ceballos, a Mexican, is a not a US citizen yet but permanent resident who was criminally charged by the state’s Republican-led law enforcement for voting in elections held in 2022, 2023 and 2024. In addition, he is also facing perjury charges.</p>

Why Republicans are Asking the DOJ to Oversee Michigan’s 2026 Elections
