It appears the dead will continue to rest in peace on Michigan’s dirty voter rolls.
The U.S. Supreme Court this week summarily denied a request to review two lower court decisions that rejected an election-integrity watchdog’s lawsuit seeking to force Michigan’s far-left Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove the names of deceased people from the voter files.
In a release denying certiorari for dozens of cases, the court did not explain why it decided not to hear the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s challenge.
PILF’s lawsuit, first filed in 2021, accused the swing state of violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) in failing to adequately scrub thousands of deceased registrants from its voter rolls.
As The Federalist has reported, PILF asserts that the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in its 2024 ruling affirming a lower court opinion that found Benson made “reasonable efforts” to remove the names of the deceased.
What constitutes reasonable? PILF argued Benson’s efforts weren’t good enough. The watchdog wanted the Supreme Court to clarify what the general term means and spell out the rights of voters to challenge when the maintenance standard is ignored.
The foundations’ analysis of the state’s voter list identified almost 26,000 likely deceased individuals registered to vote. Some of the formerly breathing have been dead for decades, according to the complaint. Of the suspect registrants, nearly 4,000 have been dead for at least 20 years, according to the report.
PILF made sure Michigan’s Democrat Secretary of State, who is running for governor, stayed informed. The foundation sent the office obituaries and photos of gravestones of many of the deceased registrants — one apparently dating back to 1823, and all apparently on the registration list.
But a federal district court judge and a three-judge panel on the appeals court sided with Benson and her claims that her office was keeping a reasonably clean voter file.
‘Fight Against Transparency and Accountability’
Benson rejoiced, exaggerating her victory in asserting the Supreme Court’s denial without comment was a vindication of the state’s shoddy maintenance system.
“Michigan is one of the most active states in the nation when it comes to keeping our voter file up to date and cancelling the registrations of people who have died,” Benson claimed in a press release. She described PILF’s lawsuit as “partisan attacks aimed at undermining people’s faith in our secure elections.”
But the highly partisan secretary of state has done much to erode confidence in election administration over her two-term tenure.
Last month, state Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt again raised concerns about what he sees as Benson’s checkered record running elections.
“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,” Nesbitt said in a press release, noting the 16 known foreign nationals who likely voted in the 2024 election. That list included a Chinese national who voted on the University of Michigan campus.
‘Unavoidable Conflict of Interest’
In November Nesbitt joined 21 Republican lawmakers in sending an “urgent request” to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking the Justice Department to oversee Michigan’s midterm primary and general elections this year. In the letter, the Republicans note Benson’s “inherent and unavoidable conflict of interest” as the state’s chief election officer and candidate for governor.
They noted Benson’s “troubling refusal to cooperate with federal authorities.” The DOJ sued the SOS for failing to turn over unredacted voter registration records, which the Justice Department says is a violation of the Civil Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. The state sent DOJ officials a redacted list, claiming releasing personally identifiable information would violate state and federal law. A federal judge last month dismissed the lawsuit. The Justice Department has appealed.
Benson and her department have been sued some 70 times, more than the “combined total of Michigan’s previous four secretaries of state,” the legislators note. Court rulings have found the SOS has violated election laws on poll challengers and in giving improper guidance on signature verification for mail ballots.
And Nesbitt and his colleagues point to Benson’s “D” grade for election integrity she received as part of the Fair Election Fund’s review of battleground states’ secretaries of states.
“The Fair Election Fund’s analysis of Secretary Benson’s election administration determined a failing grade for her performance due to multiple and continued failures that undermine the confidence of voters in Michigan,” the watchdog’s 2025 report states. “This includes frequently being struck down in court for issuing instructions inconsistent with Michigan law, being reprimanded by several Federal judges for her partisan interference in ballot access, creating the appearance of impropriety that has resulted in Michigan Bar review of her actions, and a voter registration list in Michigan that is way behind other states in maintenance to remove non-Michigan citizens.”
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
