Michigan House GOP to subpoena Jocelyn Benson for election training docs

• Members of the House Oversight Committee Tuesday have issued a subpoena to the Michigan Department of State
• Lawmakers are looking for “election training materials given to clerks,” saying they’re verifying whether the state is following new election laws
• State Department officials say they’ve tried to comply ahead of the subpoena, but what’s sought contains sensitive security information

LANSING — Michigan's Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted Tuesday to authorize a subpoena against Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office for election clerk training materials. 

Chair Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay, argued a subpoena is necessary because Benson's office had not followed through on prior requests as the committee aims to determine whether the training materials "comply with Michigan election law."

“The Michigan House of Representatives has the right to know how Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is instructing local election officials to conduct the elections within the state,” DeBoyer said after the committee authorized the subpoena in a 9-6 party-line vote, a rare step in state government. 

A spokesperson for Benson, who is now running for governor, disputed claims her office had not answered committee requests, telling Bridge Michigan that the Department of State has been “responsive at every turn” but that procuring requested documents is "a labor intensive process.”

The pending subpoena follows a series of GOP lawsuits challenging election rules from Benson's office, including absentee ballot signature match guidance provided to clerks in 2023 but struck down by a Michigan Court of Claims judge last year. 

House Speaker Matt Hall told reporters Tuesday following the hearing that DeBoyer “has my 100% full backing” to issue subpoenas, saying that if Benson were “doing her job, we wouldn’t need to issue subpoenas.” 

“The days of these departments, and the Secretary of State, just doing whatever the hell they want without anyone watching them is over,” said Hall, R-Richland Township. “Legislative oversight is back, it’s serious and they need to comply — and if they don’t comply, they’re going to get dragged into court.”

But the Department of State has already provided legislators with “hundreds” of documents, according to spokesperson Angela Benander, who said some items sought by the committee involve “sensitive” election security information.

That includes procedures for securing voting equipment and ballots, election notice templates and “information that could be used to gain improper access to secure communication channels used to report security risks,” she said in a statement. 

“We will take all necessary steps to protect the security and integrity of Michigan’s elections and are more than willing to make these arguments in court,” Benander added.

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It’s the first time the House Oversight Committee has authorized a subpoena against a state department since Republicans took control of the chamber in January.  

The department itself, Benson and “any records custodians of the Department of State” will be named in the subpoena, which will be prepared and sent at a later date, DeBoyer said during Tuesday’s hearing.

That request, he added, is “only for the production of records” related to clerk training materials as previously requested by Rep. Rachelle Smit,  a Shelbyville Republican who chairs the House Election Integrity Committee.

Smit said in March she first sought the records in November 2024 but was denied login credentials to an online learning portal she tried to access to “review the training and instructions provided to Michigan clerks.” 

Smit said the state told her in January that she would have to pay $9,000 for the training materials, citing the 140 hours they believed it would take to fulfill her request. 

It appears Smit never paid that amount. In early March, she requested the House Oversight Committee authorize a subpoena. 

“Secretary Benson had five months and ample opportunities to be transparent and work with us to strengthen our election systems,” Smit said in a Tuesday statement. “She refused, leaving us with no choice but to issue a subpoena.”

Benander, with Benson’s office, said some of the training materials sought by legislators could be used improperly if they landed in the wrong hands. The State Department is working to get lawmakers the documents they can following a thorough security review, she said.

That’s consistent with an April 14 letter that Department of State Chief Legal Director Khyla Craine sent to Smit and DeBoyer. The department will “provide the materials, following a security review, on a rolling basis,” Craine said in the letter, obtained by Bridge. 

The need for that rolling basis, Craine added, is because the department “cannot divert its limited resources from the critical missions of supporting election officials and voters and ensuring the security, safety, and integrity of Michigan elections in response to inexact oversight requests being weaponized against state agencies and in turn, the Michiganders they serve.”

Legislators were not willing to wait. 

House Republicans aren’t “talking about state secrets here,” Smit said, arguing she and her colleagues are seeking “just basic election training materials regularly provided to Michigan clerks.”