Jocelyn Benson
Secretary of State of Michigan and academic
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| 2023 | Publicly criticized legislative inaction on lobbying and campaign finance laws, asserting that Michigan's regulations are 'far, far behind' other states. |
| November 2023 | Trump's legal team sued Benson to prevent her from excluding him from Michigan's 2024 elections, challenging her authority to disqualify him under the 14th Amendment. |
| October 2023 | A 60-year-old man from Detroit was sentenced to 15 months of probation after threatening to kill Benson and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. |
| September 2023 | Benson wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post arguing that secretaries of state should not unilaterally decide Trump's eligibility to serve as President under the 14th Amendment. |
| July 2023 | Collaborated on the Democracy Playbook, a set of over 40 recommendations by the NewDEAL Forum to enhance election systems nationwide. |
| May 2023 | Benson claimed in an interview that Trump suggested she be tried for treason and possibly executed, an accusation Trump denied. |
| March 2023 | Announced she would not run for the 2024 U.S. Senate race in Michigan, instead choosing to focus on protecting democracy and elections in her role as Secretary of State. |
| March 2023 | Interviewed by federal prosecutors for several hours as part of the criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. |
| January 6 2023 | Awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Joe Biden in recognition of her 'undaunted and unflinching' work in advancing free and fair elections. |
| 2022 | Selected as one of five recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her efforts to protect democracy. |
| 2022 | Re-elected as Michigan Secretary of State, defeating Republican Kristina Karamo by a 14 percentage point margin and setting a record for the largest margin and vote share among statewide candidates that year. |
| December 2022 | Benson stated that threats from election deniers that began in 2020 had not ceased. |
| September 2022 | Election Integrity Force and others sued Benson and Governor Whitmer in an attempt to decertify the 2020 election. |
| April 2021 | Benson announced that appointment-only visits to Secretary of State offices would become a permanent service model, maintaining the COVID-19 era approach to customer service. |
| March 2021 | Introduced 'From Worst to First' legislative agenda aimed at enhancing government transparency during Sunshine Week. The proposed measures included expanding Freedom of Information Act coverage, requiring personal financial disclosures from elected officials, demanding more frequent campaign disclosures, and tightening regulations to prevent secret and foreign money in Michigan elections. |
| March 2021 | Michigan's Court of Claims ruled against Benson regarding her guidance to clerks on verifying signatures on absentee ballots, finding procedural issues with her instructions. |
| 2020 | Mailed absentee voter applications to all 7.7 million Michigan registered voters for the August primary and November general election, funded by $4.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funding. |
| December 7 2020 | Pro-Trump demonstrators gathered outside Benson's home, chanting and making threatening demands to overturn Michigan's election results, in connection with election fraud claims. |
| June 2020 | Launched an online platform enabling registered voters to apply for absentee ballots using state ID and last four digits of Social Security numbers, allowing email submission of signed ballot applications. |
| January 2020 | A 72-year-old man was arrested for making violent threats towards Benson related to her role in overseeing the 2020 election. |
| 2019 | Established the Election Modernization Advisory Committee, a 27-member group of local and national experts aimed at shaping election reform and preparing for the 2020 elections. |
| 2019 | Assumes office as the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan. |
| November 2019 | Priorities USA filed another lawsuit challenging Michigan's automatic registration law and alleging undue burdens on young voters' constitutional rights. |
| October 2019 | Benson was named in a lawsuit by Priorities USA over the elimination of absentee votes due to signature disparities. |
| August 2019 | Initiated the Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force to address challenges that could hinder voting capabilities of young citizens. |
| 2018 | Before Benson's reforms, only about 25% of Secretary of State services were conducted online, by mail, or at self-service stations. |
| 2018 | Jocelyn Benson concluded her tenure as CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). |
| November 6 2018 | Benson was elected Michigan Secretary of State, defeating Republican Mary Treder Lang and becoming the first Democrat to serve in the role since Richard Austin in 1995. |
| October 27 2017 | Benson announced her second candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State. |
| 2016 | Completed her second Boston Marathon while more than eight months pregnant, becoming one of a few women in history to achieve this remarkable feat. |
| 2016 | Jocelyn Benson began serving as CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), a nonprofit organization focused on improving race relations through sports. |
| 2016 | Named one of Michigan's 'Most Influential Women' by Crain's Detroit Business. |
| October 2015 | Inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, becoming one of the youngest women in the state's history to receive this honor, second only to Serena Williams. |
| January 2013 | Military Spouses of Michigan was selected to represent Michigan in the Presidential Inaugural Parade, becoming the only group of military spouses to receive this prestigious honor. |
| 2012 | Jocelyn Benson co-founded Military Spouses of Michigan, a network supporting military family members and veterans in Michigan, collaborating with three other military spouses and family members. |
| 2012 | Developed and supervised a statewide nonpartisan election protection effort in Michigan. |
| December 2012 | Jocelyn Benson was appointed dean of Wayne State Law School at age 35, becoming the youngest woman to lead a top 100 law school in United States history. |
| 2011 | Selected to serve on the national board of directors of iCivics, Inc., a nonprofit focused on improving civics education, alongside retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. |
| 2011 | Hosted Michigan's first 'Citizens' Redistricting Competition' through the Michigan Center for Election Law, providing citizens with the opportunity to draw their own redistricting maps for the state. |
| March 2010 | Jocelyn Benson published her first book, 'State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process', which explores best practices of secretaries of state and election reform. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Jocelyn Benson, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.