Jocelyn Benson’s SPLC Board Tenure Overlapped With Alleged Payments To Extremist ‘Informants’
Benson served on the SPLC’s board of directors from 2014 to 2019
Michigan Gubernatorial Frontrunner’s Deep Ties To Corrupt Southern Poverty Law Center Demand Scrutiny
The investigation and indictment of the SPLC put Jocelyn Benson, a sitting statewide official and gubernatorial candidate, in an awkward position.Michigan’s Dirty And Dead-Ridden Voter Rolls Escape Scrutiny
The Supreme Court this week passed on a watchdog's request to review lower court decisions finding Michigan's voter list clean enough.Michigan jury pool shocker: 200+ noncitizens slipped in — and one may have voted
A county clerk in Michigan has sounded the alarm after a cross-check of state and local databases revealed that more than 200 noncitizens had been included in a jury pool — and one of them may even have voted.
On Monday, Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini issued a press release that quickly went viral on social media. Forlini claimed that because Michigan automatically registers driver's license applicants to vote unless the applicant intentionally opts to decline, 239 noncitizens with Michigan driver's licenses had been included in the pool of potential jurors for the 16th Judicial Circuit Court over a four-month period, even as noncitizens are ineligible to serve on juries.
'Even if you give [Benson] the benefit of the doubt, you'd have to admit that she doesn't know what she's doing. But the problem is, I think she does.'
What's more, after cross-referencing the noncitizens in the jury pool against the Michigan Qualified Voter File — maintained and monitored by Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — Forlini's office discovered that at least 14 of these noncitizens had been registered to vote at some point.
"Our QVF shows instances where some of these noncitizens potentially having a voting history. One in particular appears to have voted several times, all of which could result in felony charges," Forlini said in a statement.
"We must find a way for the Driver’s License database to confirm citizenship," he continued. "Many times there may be a language barrier, and applicants do not understand what they are signing. If this is not addressed, we risk compromising our jury trials and our elections."
Forlini, a former state representative, is running for secretary of state as a Republican.
However, he's hardly the only Republican outraged about the discovery.
Rep. John James, who is running for governor and whose congressional district includes much of Macomb County, posted a scathing video response on X, accusing Secretary Benson, who is running for governor as a Democrat, of either "corruption or incompetence."
"Even if you give her the benefit of the doubt, you'd have to admit that she doesn't know what she's doing. But the problem is, I think she does," James stated.
"The bigger problem for Michigan is: What do you think she's going to do when she's overseeing an election where she's at the top of the ticket this time?"
RELATED: Rep. John James hammers Michigan GOP over political failures: 'What are we even talking about?'
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Captain Michael Bouchard, who is running as a Republican to replace James as the representative in Michigan's 10th district, indicated that the blame falls at the feet of Michigan Democrats like Benson but insisted that the issue affects all U.S. citizens, regardless of party.
"I’ve served our country in uniform, and I don’t take lightly the freedoms we enjoy as Americans," Bouchard said in a statement to Blaze News. "Protecting those freedoms starts with protecting the integrity of our elections. After years of poor leadership by Michigan Democrats, we need to fix this now. This shouldn’t even be a political issue. Our elections must be fair, secure, and decided only by American citizens."
Benson's office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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With Jocelyn Benson Set To Referee Her Own Race For Governor, Michigan GOP Asks DOJ To Monitor Election
Michigan Sec. of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, will oversee her own election results when she appears on the ballot.Lawsuit: The Dead Still Live On Michigan’s Dirty Voter Rolls
The Public Interest Legal Foundation wants the Supreme Court to clarify what a 'reasonable effort' means in voter list maintenance.Michigan Citizen-Only Voting Effort Kicks Off Under Watch Of ‘Terrible’ Elections Chief
Leftist Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has insisted that there's no need for such an election-integrity amendment.Rep. John James hammers Michigan GOP over political failures: 'What are we even talking about?'
Republican candidates have not fared well lately in key races in one of the most important swing states in the country: Michigan. Rep. John James (R) of Michigan did not mince words when talking to Blaze News about their lackluster performances, insisting that they demonstrate why he should be the party's nominee for the open governor race in 2026.
James, 43, rose to national prominence in 2018, when he unsuccessfully attempted to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has since retired. Two years later, James lost another Senate race, this time to incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
In January, Peters unexpectedly announced that he would not seek another term, prompting some to speculate that James, who was elected in 2022 to represent the 10th Congressional District of Michigan and re-elected in 2024, might make another run for the Senate.
However, James made a surprise move of his own, announcing in early April that he would make a bid for Michigan governor instead.
'Michigan's a state that deserves to have a leader who's been knocked down a couple times and refuses to give up.'
Last week, James sat down with Blaze News and explained that his breadth of experience in the business world and in combat has prepared him for executive leadership.
"The time that I've had as a legislator, as a lawmaker, as a representative has actually been the longest period of my life that I haven't been in an executive role," he stated.
"I'm a combat veteran, and I led two Apache platoons," continued James, a Ranger-qualified aviation officer who served in operations in Iraq from 2007 to 2009, according to his congressional website.
"I understand what it takes to keep Americans safe because I've done it before."
James also noted that in the last several years, Republican candidates in Michigan have lost winnable races. To demonstrate, he referred to then-Attorney General Bill Schuette's failed gubernatorial bid against former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2018, followed by Tudor Dixon's loss to Whitmer in 2022 despite Whitmer's questionable track record regarding COVID lockdowns and nursing home deaths.
James warned that if that "circular firing squad" continues among Michigan Republicans, a leftist could succeed Whitmer next year.
"We can be cute, we can talk, but if you can't win, what are we even talking about?" James asked rhetorically. "If we're not going to put the strongest candidate at the top of the ticket, what are we even talking about?"
Schuette and the Michigan Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment.
RELATED: Mike Rogers launches Senate campaign to replace retiring Democrat
Tudor Dixon, who has teased another run for governor as well as a possible Senate bid, quickly fired back against James' provocative remarks.
"It's interesting to see a declared candidate lashing out at someone who has not even announced a run for office yet," Dixon said in a statement to Blaze News. "I will not comment on his two statewide failures, but instead recommend he start to share his plans about how to make people's lives here in Michigan better."
When Blaze News pressed James about his failed senatorial bids, he explained that unseating an incumbent is particularly challenging. Since Whitmer is term-limited, he believes he has a good shot of winning the governorship, especially after eight years of her radical policies.
He also admitted to Blaze News that he learned some valuable lessons from those disappointing electoral losses. "Number one, don't run during a global pandemic," he said, referring to the 2020 race against Peters.
James added that even though he didn't win, those two U.S. Senate races did provide some unforeseen benefits: statewide name recognition as well as the opportunity to demonstrate to voters his fortitude and toughness.
"Michigan's a state that deserves to have a leader who's been knocked down a couple times and refuses to give up," he said.
For now, James has much in his favor. Though state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), who has also announced his candidacy for governor, is likewise a well-known name and may give him fits in the Republican primary, at the moment, much of the state media attention has been focused on the campaign missteps of Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
RELATED: 16 noncitizens apparently voted in Michigan in 2024 — and liberals are cheering about it
James also pointed out that he has long-standing ties to President Donald Trump, who carried Michigan handily in the 2024 presidential election and who endorsed James in his previous runs for Senate and Congress. However, at least one Michigan-based Republican communications operative disputed the strength of James' current relationship with Trump, suggesting to Blaze News that it has been "shaky" recently.
So far, Trump has not weighed in on the upcoming gubernatorial race in Michigan. When Blaze News asked James whether he has discussed the topic of endorsement with Trump lately, James deftly changed the subject to his current focus of helping the president pass the "big, beautiful bill" in the House.
"We as Republicans, we have the best ideas. We have the best policies — and they work," he said.
"But none of it makes a lick of difference if ... we don't elect the candidate who can win."
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Chinese national accused of voting in US election skips hearing, prompting bench warrant
A Chinese national accused of voting in the 2024 election in Michigan now faces a bench warrant after he failed to attend a hearing last week.
Haoxiang Gao, a 20-year-old Chinese national with a green card, was supposed to show up for a hearing in district court on Thursday but never appeared, prompting Judge J. Cedric Simpson to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. Simpson decided to issue the bench warrant after conferring with Gao's lawyer, K. Orlando Simón.
'We have copies of the voter registration form that both includes a checked box and an affirming statement of citizenship.'
Gao's legal ordeal began back on October 27 at the University of Michigan, where he apparently registered to vote and cast a ballot on the same day. He used his UM student ID card to prove local residency, Michigan Enjoyer learned after submitting several public information requests about the incident.
He must have had some misgivings about his actions because he then called the Ann Arbor clerk's office, inquiring about whether green-card holders were eligible to vote. When the staff member explained that green-card holders were ineligible to vote, Gao allegedly claimed he knew of someone who had voted using their green card at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Gao then called the clerk's office back 20 minutes later and admitted that he was the person who had voted and that he had "lied on the forms and attested to being a U.S. citizen," according to an email from Ann Arbor clerk Jacqueline Beaudry.
"We have copies of the voter registration form that both includes a checked box and an affirming statement of citizenship," Beaudry wrote. "We have the application to vote as well."
The following day, Gao arrived at the clerk's office looking "very upset" and claiming to have fessed up to local law enforcement, Beaudry added. Staff at the office claimed they couldn't do anything for him and suggested he find legal counsel.
It was sage advice. Gao was later charged with perjury and being an unauthorized elector who attempted to vote, both felonies. At his arraignment in November, Gao "stood mute," meaning he did not enter a specific plea, the Detroit News reported at the time.
Now with a bench warrant against him, law enforcement officers are compelled to arrest Gao, should they encounter him. As of Friday, no follow-up hearing for Gao had been scheduled.
At the moment, it's unclear where he is. Both Simón, Gao's attorney, and the University of Michigan’s Student Legal Services declined a request for comment from Votebeat, while UM and the Washtenaw County prosecutor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
'This young man’s case is what showed our entire nation the giant loophole in Michigan's election laws that allow non-citizens to vote.'
Gao is one of 16 noncitizens believed to have voted in Michigan last fall, according to an audit. Leftists like Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — now running to replace Gretchen Whitmer as governor — celebrated the results of the audit as evidence that the system works as designed.
Such instances "represent 0.00028% of the more than 5.7 million votes cast by Michiganders in the presidential election," Benson insisted, even though she testified before Congress in September that "there is no evidence that noncitizens are voting."
However, focusing solely on the presidential election, as Benson and others have done, basically ignores the more competitive races down ballot where noncitizen votes could have greater impact. In fact, a 2024 state race in Maine was decided by just a single vote, and dozens of other state-level races across the country were decided by 100 votes or fewer.
State Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) — who has already proposed a constitutional amendment that would require prospective voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register and when they go to cast a ballot — believes Gao's case represents a much wider problem regarding election integrity in Michigan.
"This young man’s case is what showed our entire nation the giant loophole in Michigan's election laws that allow non-citizens to vote," Posthumus said in a statement to Blaze News.
"We now know definitively that non-citizens have voted in our elections and are voting in our elections. Law enforcement will handle this fugitive, while my part will be to close the gap by amending our state constitution to require proof of citizenship."
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