{"id":14678,"date":"2026-05-07T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/jocelyn-benson-unveils-firewall-for-election-oversight-governor-run-bridge-michigan\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:52:12","slug":"jocelyn-benson-unveils-firewall-for-election-oversight-governor-run-bridge-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/jocelyn-benson-unveils-firewall-for-election-oversight-governor-run-bridge-michigan\/","title":{"rendered":"Jocelyn Benson unveils \u2018firewall\u2019 for election oversight, governor run – Bridge Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridge Michigan<\/a>
\t\t\t\t\tMichigan\u2019s nonpartisan, nonprofit news source\t\t\t\t
LANSING \u2014 As she runs for Michigan governor, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says she will \u201crecuse\u201d herself from all decisions and administrative tasks that have a direct impact on the gubernatorial election. 
Benson announced the new \u201cfirewall\u201d policy<\/a> late Wednesday. Her office said she had been working on it since September, but its release comes as Republican rivals question her ability<\/a> to fairly oversee elections in which she competes.
In a letter to the Board of State Canvassers, Benson said she formalized the policy \u201cin the interest of transparency, and to establish precedent of a public-facing firewall policy\u201d that future secretaries of state could adopt. 
\u201cThese processes largely reflect how the Bureau of Elections and I handled potential conflicts of interest during my reelection campaign in 2022,\u201d Benson wrote in a letter to board Chair Richard Houskamp, a Republican appointee.
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Michigan elections are administered by local clerks, and state-level functions are carried out by nonpartisan civil servants in the Bureau of Elections. Benson\u2019s conflict of interest policy largely involves the bureau keeping its work private from Benson until decisions have been finalized.
Benson\u2019s new policy<\/a>, developed with help from the nonprofit Election Reformers Network, outlines six ways she will avoid conflicts of interest:
The policy does not require any additional steps to ensure Benson\u2019s office completes \u201ccertificates of election\u201d after results are certified by canvassers. \u201cThere is no mechanism or standing for the secretary or department staff in their professional capacities to challenge the certified results,\u201d the document reads.
As secretary of state, Benson is Michigan\u2019s chief election officer, and multiple GOP hopefuls have argued<\/a> she can\u2019t be trusted to supervise fall elections as a candidate for governor. 
GOP gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson last month suggested the federal government should be in charge of signature validation.
\u201cI just think that because we end up having the secretary of state in charge of her own election, that she ought to recuse herself,\u201d said Johnson, who was one of five candidates kept off the ballot in 2022 due to faulty signatures.
He later went further on social media, arguing Benson \u201cmust recuse herself from overseeing this election\u201d entirely.
Fellow GOP candidate Aric Nesbitt has urged the US Department of Justice<\/a> to oversee Michigan\u2019s August primary and November general election, arguing Benson \u201ccannot be trusted to manage\u201d them.
Democrats and Republican officials who have served at the center of Michigan election administration contend those claims misrepresent the electoral process and overstate Benson\u2019s role.
The Election Reformers Network, the nonprofit organization Benson worked with on the new firewall policy, recommended secretaries of state establish policies because \u201copposing candidates often exaggerate the risks for political gain.\u201d
The bipartisan Board of State Canvassers ultimately decides which candidates get on the ballot and certifies election results, which are compiled by local election clerks across the state and are reviewed by county-level boards. 
Canvassers have disputed suggestions that Benson could influence or taint the signature verification process. 
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a legitimate concern,\u201d Republican Chair Richard Houskamp previously told Bridge. \u201cSecretary Benson\u2019s nowhere near those signatures.\u201d
Democratic Vice Chair Mary Ellen Gurewitz agreed: \u201cThat\u2019s just bullshit, and they know it,\u201d she said of GOP candidates questioning the process. \u201cThe secretary of state is not involved (in signature verification). Never has been.\u201d
Past secretaries of state have been candidates in elections they oversaw, most commonly while seeking reelection. Benson\u2019s predecessor, Republican Ruth Johnson, won a state Senate race while serving as secretary of state in 2019. 
Chris Thomas, who served as Michigan\u2019s director of elections for 36 years under Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, said impugning the process is nothing new.
\u201cPeople grab on to it as just a way to take shots at their opponents,\u201d Thomas said.