Complaint Alleges Michigan’s Top Election Official Misrepresented Facts to Keep RFK Jr. on Ballot

Michigan’s top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, is the subject of a bar complaint over her department’s actions to keep independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name on the ballot.  

State Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Republican who immediately preceded Benson as secretary of state, filed the bar complaint alleging that Benson manipulated procedures to undermine the Nov. 5 election. 

Michigan is one of the most fiercely contested battleground states. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, are separated by a single percentage point, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls. 

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

Johnson’s formal complaint to the State Bar of Michigan contends that Benson represented to numerous courts that there was a statutory deadline to finalize the list of candidates for the state ballot. However, the complaint says, Benson ignored her own deadline to keep Kennedy’s name on the ballot.

Before Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump, polls showed he likely pulled more votes from Trump than Harris. Thus, keeping Kennedy on the ballot in Michigan would likely help Harris in the swing state. (Kennedy opted to remain on the ballot in other states.)

Johnson’s complaint, filed Oct. 11 with the Attorney Grievance Commission of the State Bar of Michigan, says that Benson violated Rule 3.3 by knowingly making false representations in court. According to the complaint, Benson’s arguments repeatedly were based on false representations of the law as she defended her department’s administration of elections. 

“As put forth above, Benson’s conduct rises to false misrepresentation of law. However, in her official capacity as secretary of state, Benson’s framing of state laws for the purpose of furthering her goal is deceitful in nature,” Johnson’s complaint reads. “Benson’s decision to put a candidate back on a  ballot, after his name was removed, after the ballots were certified, and after the statutory deadline lapsed, is an abuse of authority as secretary of state resulting in a manipulation of state election procedures and calling into question her political priorities.” 

Rule 3.3 of Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct states that “a lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer.”

Kennedy, previously a Democrat, suspended his independent candidacy for president in August and notified several state election officials—including in Michigan—that he wanted to be removed from the ballot. 

The Michigan Bureau of Elections, an entity of the Michigan Department of State, refused to remove Kennedy’s name from the ballot. So Kennedy sued. 

The case went through Michigan courts, which decided to keep Kennedy’s name on the ballot. He appealed to federal court. 

Earlier this month, Judge David William McKeague of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that Benson had attempted to “influence the upcoming presidential election by manipulating state election procedures.”

Johnson’s bar complaint quotes the federal judge as saying: “Secretary Benson’s actions … serve no purpose other than to sow needless confusion in a presidential election,” would “inevitably cause confusion, and … undermine faith in this core democratic institution.”  

The Republican National Committee previously filed lawsuits over Benson’s election guidance on matters such as signature verification and mail-in ballot safeguards, and for failing to scrub the voter registration rolls of the names of dead people or voters who moved. 

The Public Interest Legal Foundation sued Michigan over Benson’s refusal to remove the names of 26,000 dead people from voter registration lists. Of those, almost 4,000 had been dead for over two decades; 17,479 were dead for more than a decade; 23,663 had been dead for at least five years.

The foundation, an election watchdog group, noted that Benson’s department mismanaged voter rolls. She publicly defended her department, however.

A spokesperson from the Michigan Department of State did not respond to The Daily Signal by publication time.