Jocelyn Benson
Michigan's Secretary of State, defendant in DOJ's voter-file litigation.
Michigan's Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, has twice fended off a federal push for the state's full voter rolls, most recently when the Department of Justice sought en banc rehearing on 8 July 2026 after losing a Sixth Circuit panel ruling 2-1.
Last refreshed: 26 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why is the DOJ fighting Michigan's Secretary of State for the full voter file?
Timeline for Jocelyn Benson
Became favoured in the two-way Michigan race after Duggan's exit
US Midterms 2026: Sabato moves three races for governorMentioned in: DOJ appeals its Michigan voter-file loss
US Midterms 2026Background
Jocelyn Benson is Michigan's Democratic Secretary of State, the state's chief election official, responsible for overseeing its voter rolls and broader election administration.
As the official actually holding those rolls, she has been the one deciding what to hand over and what to withhold, refusing the federal government's unredacted version while continuing to supply the redacted file state law already permits.
Her office's approach has become a reference point for counterparts elsewhere facing the same federal request, part of a wider pattern of election-data disputes meeting resistance in the courts through 2026.
She still holds her Sixth Circuit win
Benson's office has argued from the outset that handing federal investigators a complete, unredacted statewide roll would expose ordinary voters' personal details with no statute compelling that step, a line she has held since well before the Sixth Circuit panel sided with her 2-1 on 24 June 2026. When the department petitioned on 8 July for rehearing before the full appeals court, Benson's team characterised the move as an attempt to relitigate a settled privacy question rather than raise any new legal ground. Her stated position has not moved: Michigan will keep supplying the redacted rolls already available under state law, and nothing more, unless a court orders otherwise.
That stance now doubles as a template other secretaries of state are watching, given six similar federal appeals remain pending elsewhere.
