Lansing, MI — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has fired back at Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s request for a response in the emergency petition over the Citizens Only Voting amendment, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stay out of the fight and let Michigan’s courts handle it — a move that critics say would effectively kill the measure before the November ballot deadline.
Benson’s attorney filed the response this afternoon, just hours before the noon deadline set by Justice Kavanaugh, according to The Gateway Pundit. The filing came after the Americans for Citizens Only Voting (ACVM) petition — which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in Michigan — was blocked by a deadlocked Board of State Canvassers last week.
The petition campaign turned in 709,841 signatures in March — 59.1% more than the 446,198 required to make the ballot. But Bureau of Elections staff, led by Director Jonathan Brater, flagged enough signatures as mismatched that the petition came up 17 short in a random sample of 1,000. The Board of Canvassers split 2-2 along party lines, with Democrats refusing to certify, leaving the measure off the ballot.
In her response to the Supreme Court, Benson argued that the case should be handled by the Michigan Supreme Court — which critics note would almost certainly run out the clock before the Sept. 4 deadline to finalize ballots. The Gateway Pundit reports that if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with Benson, the amendment would never appear on the 2026 ballot.
87% of Michigan voters — including Dems — oppose non-citizen voting
The fight has drawn national attention, largely because the proposal is backed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Michigan voters. A Remington Group poll found that 87% of likely voters — evenly split between Democrats and Republicans — oppose non-citizens voting in Michigan elections.
Yet Benson, a Democrat running for governor, has fought the petition at every turn, arguing that the signature sampling process was fair and that her office is best positioned to handle citizenship verification.
But critics — and even some clerks — say Benson’s system is designed to make it impossible for anyone else to verify citizenship. The Bureau of Elections controls the Qualified Voter File (QVF), and only the Michigan Department of State is authorized by USCIS to run the federal SAVE citizenship check on voter registrations. Local clerks can see names in their jurisdiction but cannot add a citizenship flag or run the federal check themselves.
“Clerks have said in public they cannot verify citizenship once a name is on the list,” The Gateway Pundit reports. Benson’s office has also refused to hand over unredacted voter rolls to the Department of Justice, which sought dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and last four digits of Social Security numbers.
Benson’s lawyer to Supreme Court: Let Michigan handle it
In her filing, Benson’s attorney tried to explain the “random” sampling process that identified the allegedly mismatched signatures. But attorneys for ACVM were able to obtain 23 affidavits from voters whose signatures had been rejected, proving they were valid. Nineteen affidavits were submitted by the Saturday deadline, with four more arriving later that day.
At the five-hour Board of Canvassers hearing on Aug. 24, hundreds of Michigan residents packed the room to watch the board — made up of two Republicans and two Democrats with no forensic expertise — discount notarized affidavits from voters who swore their signatures were genuine. Many in the audience noted that signatures naturally change over time, and pointed out that Benson herself ordered clerks to skip signature matching on absentee ballots just six years ago.
“The intense scrutiny given to each signature by the amateur signature sleuths was especially difficult to watch,” reported Patty McMurray, who was present at the hearing.
ACVM says the Bureau of Elections dragged its feet for months: petitions were delivered March 4, but the 1,000-signature sample wasn’t released until July 24, and the staff report declaring the petition short didn’t come until Aug. 17 — 166 days after submission, leaving only 17 days to fight challenges before the board meeting.
Petition sponsors say they can’t even see the QVF signature images that Brater’s staff used to reject names. Instead, they were told to hunt down voters and get affidavits.
Political stakes high for Benson’s gubernatorial bid
Benson is running for governor in the 2026 election, and critics suggest she has a personal motive to keep the amendment off the ballot. The measure would likely drive conservative turnout, which could hurt her chances in a tightly contested race.
“Could it be that Jocelyn doesn’t want a proposal on the upcoming ballot that would attract more conservatives than liberals to vote in an election where the very unpopular Secretary of State will also be on the ballot?” The Gateway Pundit asked.
The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to take the case. If the Court declines, the Michigan Supreme Court would hear the challenge — a process that almost certainly wouldn’t conclude before Sept. 4, effectively killing the amendment for this election cycle.
Supporters of the petition are urging the high court to intervene, arguing that the Board of Canvassers’ deadlock violated state law and that Benson’s office has not shown why the petition should be rejected when a majority of valid signatures clearly exceed the threshold.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/09/breaking-michigan-sec-state-replies-justice-kavanaugh-gives/