A Michigan elections board rejected an effort to recall Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson Friday.
Two recall petitions alleged Benson misused state resources and took too long to settle campaign finance complaints. The petition sponsor wasn’t at Friday’s meeting of the Board of State Canvassers, leaving attorneys for Benson to pick them apart before the board.
One recall petition alleges “Secretary Benson is taking far longer than the statute allows to investigate and resolve complaints made under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.”
Attorney Rowan Conybeare said that wasn’t specific enough for what Michigan law requires of recall petitions.
“The reason for recall tells Secretary Benson and electors nothing of the referenced complaints made under the Campaign Finance Act that Secretary Benson has allegedly delayed investigating and resolving. Rather than pointing to those specific complaints, the recall petition merely references complaints generally,” Conybeare said during the meeting.
Beyond that, Conybeare argued the petition wasn’t factual. That’s, in part, because other people in Benson’s office also handle complaints.
Republican board chair Richard Houskamp disagreed with that claim, saying Benson was still responsible for her office. But he reached a similar conclusion that the petitions shouldn’t move forward.
“You are correct in that there's no specificity. This is a very wide, general shot at the wall,” Houskamp said.
That clarity issue resonated with the board when it came to the second complaint against Benson, dealing with her use of official government resources.
“Secretary Benson used government-owned resources, not publicly-accessible, in order to announce her 2026 electoral intentions,” the petitioner Paul Foust wrote as a justification for her recall effort.
It was a possible reference to a press conference Benson held in the lobby of her state office building after she filed paperwork in her bid for governor. Like the first petition, Conybeare said the wording wasn’t specific enough.
“No details are provided to pinpoint what the petition is referring to. It could be any number of announcements that Secretary Benson has made in her nearly two terms as Secretary of State. So, the reason for recall clearly fails to identify the transaction as is required by the clarity standard,” Conybeare said.
A Campaign Finance Act complaint filed over the incident claims Benson misused state resources for a political cause. Benson has denied that and has said any other candidates have had an equal opportunity to use that lobby to talk to reporters in too.
That complaint is currently still before the Attorney General’s office.
Overall, the Benson campaign thanked the Board of State Canvassers for rejecting the petition in a statement Friday, accusing Republicans of trying to sabotage her campaign.
“Republicans know Jocelyn Benson has a strong record of saving Michiganders time and money, and a proven track record of taking on big fights and winning – that’s why they’re so desperate and afraid to stop her,” campaign spokesperson Alyssa Bradley said in a text.
