Jocelyn Benson’s office now offers a post-audit certification, after audit found half of county clerks took no such training
In March, when Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler published his audit of the Bureau of Elections, he saw dead people on the voter rolls.
Ringler found that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson did not regularly reconcile Michigan’s Driver License File from its Qualified Voter File. This resulted in thousands of dead being carried on the qualified voter rolls.
Over a seven-week period between December 2020 and March 2021, the audit found the names of 3,650 dead people, as noted in Michigan’s Vital Records File, who still appeared on Michigan’s Qualified Voter File.
As a result, the Secretary of State changed its procedures, and now conducts quarterly reconciliation.
“Performance audits are conducted on a priority basis related to the potential for improving state government operations,” explained the Office of Auditor General website. “The OAG’s primary objective for conducting performance audits is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state government operations.”
Ringler made four findings, all of which were agreed to by Benson. They are:
- Benson “did not perform…
