Jocelyn Benson

Jocelyn Benson
Name	Jocelyn Benson
Occupation	Attorney, academic, politician
Alma mater	University of Michigan, Harvard Law School, Yale University
Office	43rd Secretary of State of Michigan
Term start	January 1, 2019
Party	Democratic Party

Jocelyn Benson

Jocelyn Benson is an American attorney, scholar, and politician who serves as the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan. She is known for work on voting rights, election administration, and responses to election law disputes, and has held faculty positions at Wayne State University Law School and University of Michigan. Benson's career includes service in state government, litigation in federal courts, and leadership in civic organizations focused on voting rights and election reform.

Early life and education

Benson was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Langley High School before matriculating at Colgate University and transferring to Wesleyan University where she completed undergraduate studies. She earned a master's degree from Yale University, followed by a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in political science from University of Michigan. Benson clerked for judges on the United States Court of Appeals and pursued postdoctoral research connected to Voter ID laws, campaign finance reform, civil rights litigation, and comparative studies involving institutions such as the Federal Election Commission and state election agencies.

Legal and academic career

Benson began her professional career practicing law at a firm tied to appellate litigation and civil rights cases, working on matters related to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, First Amendment litigation, and disputes involving the Help America Vote Act of 2002. She co-founded or held leadership roles in civic organizations including the Voters Not Politicians movement, the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, and coalitions that partnered with Brennan Center for Justice, ACLU, Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters. Benson joined the faculty at Wayne State University Law School as a clinical professor, directing a voting rights clinic that brought cases in the United States District Court and the Michigan Supreme Court. She later taught at the University of Michigan where she combined scholarship on election law with litigation training, producing articles cited by courts and policy bodies such as the National Commission on Election Reform and advising the Secretary of State of Michigan offices and municipal clerks associations.

Michigan political career

Benson entered electoral politics in the mid-2010s, securing the Democratic nomination in a statewide primary that involved contestation with candidates supported by local and national groups including the Democratic National Committee, labor unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and reform organizations like FairVote. In her campaign she engaged with stakeholders from the Michigan Legislature, municipal clerks from cities such as Detroit and Grand Rapids, advocacy groups like Michigan League for Public Policy, and national partners including the League of Women Voters and Voto Latino. Benson's political ascent included endorsements from elected officials in Michigan and collaborations with former governors and secretaries across states, interacting with legal teams associated with judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and litigators who had argued before the United States Supreme Court.

Tenure as Michigan Secretary of State

As Secretary of State, Benson oversaw administration of statewide elections, coordination with county clerks, and modernization efforts involving partnerships with the Michigan Department of State Police for security measures and with technology vendors who had provided systems to other states like Colorado and Oregon. Her office dealt with high-profile litigation in the wake of the 2020 United States presidential election, defending ballot tabulation procedures in federal and state courts including filings in the Michigan Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Benson implemented reforms influenced by models from states such as Nevada, California, and Washington (state), while coordinating with federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. She also worked with county election directors in Wayne County, Oakland County, and Macomb County to improve voter registration systems modeled on databases used in Georgia and Arizona.

Policy positions and initiatives

Benson has prioritized expansion of access to voting, restoration of rights for people with prior convictions, and reforms to absentee and early voting modeled after statutes in Colorado and Vermont. Her initiatives included promoting automatic voter registration similar to programs in Oregon and California, advocating for no-excuse absentee voting reflecting practices in Nevada and New Jersey, and instituting signature verification protocols comparable to those used in Pennsylvania. Benson supported measures to protect election infrastructure, collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state cyber units, and backed transparency measures inspired by reports from the Government Accountability Office and investigations by state legislative oversight committees. On campaign finance, she has supported disclosure requirements echoing reforms advanced in Massachusetts and New York, and she has engaged with nonpartisan panels convened by organizations such as the Harvard Kennedy School and the Brookings Institution.

Electoral history

Benson won the Michigan Secretary of State election after prevailing in a competitive primary and general election cycle that featured opponents endorsed by factions aligned with national figures and state lawmakers from both parties. Her reelection efforts involved coalition-building with municipal officials from Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Flint, community organizations like Mi Familia Vota and Black Voter Project, and endorsements from national figures associated with the Democratic Party and civil rights leaders who had worked with the NAACP and the National Urban League.

Category:Living people Category:Michigan politicians Category:Secretaries of State of Michigan