It started in November, with a request from a GOP state lawmaker to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D), seeking access to election training materials for state clerks.
Benson’s office responded that because there’s thousands of pages of election training material — including some potentially sensitive documents — the request could take months to fulfill.
Since then, Republicans gained control of the Michigan House of Representatives, making the lawmaker, Rep. Rachelle Smit, the chair of the elections committee — renamed to the Election Integrity Committee. Smit has made it the committee’s mission to investigate conspiracy theories and false claims of fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections. And she’s using her fight with Benson over access to election training materials as fuel to fan the flames of election denialism in The Great Lakes State — going so far as voting to hold Benson in contempt and introduce articles of impeachment against her.
Michigan Democrats describe Smit’s crusade, which has included a parade of election deniers testifying before the committee — as a conspiracy-fueled partisan effort to discredit Benson, who is running for governor, and plant the seeds to sow discord ahead of the 2026 election.
Smit’s office did not immediately return a request for comment about her work on the Election Integrity Committee.
“What I’ve seen this term with Chair Smit has been, I would say, the most radical of anything,” Rep. Matt Koleszar (D), a four-term state representative who served on the Election Integrity Committee in its previous incarnations, told Democracy Docket. “It shows a blatant misuse of the chair position because you are using it to perpetuate a false narrative — one that is predicated on many half-truths and really is designed to mislead those who are watching. It’s really unfortunate to see it, because it’s a misuse of taxpayer money.”
A parade of election deniers
Smit, who oversaw elections in Martin, Michigan, was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2022 with the help of President Donald Trump.
“Rachelle Smit is a twice-elected clerk who knows our Elections are not secure, and that there was rampant Voter Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election,” reads an endorsement by Trump on her campaign website.
Soon after Smit became chair of the Election Integrity Committee this year, she told Votebeat she “absolutely” thinks the 2020 election was stolen, and repeated a debunked conspiracy theory about illegal ballot dumps.
And, so far, promoting conspiracy theories and relitigating previous elections has been her priority.
“Since we started, most of our time has been spent taking testimony and presentations from groups that have presented false allegations that either the 2020 or 2022 elections were stolen,” Rep. Stephen Wooden (D), a member of the committee, told Democracy Docket.
The committee held a hearing in March where two prominent Michigan election deniers — one, Lorenzo Sewell, is a pastor and prominent Trump ally who delivered the benediction at the president’s second inauguration — testified about alleged election fraud, without providing any proof.
Smit also has used her new position to escalate her dispute with Benson’s office over access to election training materials. In May, Benson made thousands of pages of election materials public, after handing them over to the House Oversight Committee per a subpoena.
“Everyone at the Michigan Department of State is committed to transparency and openness to the people we serve,” MDOS Chief Legal Director Khyla Craine said in a statement. “We are also committed to protecting sensitive information which, if publicly released, could be used by bad actors to interfere with the chain of custody of ballots, tamper with election equipment, or impersonate a clerk on Election Day.”
But Smit and other House Republicans continued to press Benson to release sensitive election information, despite repeated warnings that it could pose a major security risk. The House Oversight Committee voted to hold Benson in contempt of the House and sued her over the election materials.
“The chain of custody of ballots and other sensitive information must be held private,” Wooden said. “That’s why the Secretary put forward options to go through arbitration, to go through mediation to find the right way so that they can examine them in a way that is secure, that prevents that information from getting leaked. Instead of having a constructive conversation about this, they have held her in contempt. They’re now attempting to sue.”
Earlier this month, House Republicans introduced three articles of impeachment against Benson for “corrupt conduct in office” and “crimes and misdemeanors,” over the election training documents saga, along with other claims.
“All of this targeted outrage towards Secretary Benson, it’s no coincidence that she’s running for governor,” Koleszar said. “I really do feel that that’s a coordinated attempt to discredit her. Because the truth is, when you look at what Secretary Benson has done, Michigan is ranked second in the country in terms of election processes.”
Sowing discord before the 2026 midterms
With all the focus of the committee on Benson and relitigating previous elections, not much else has been accomplished this legislative session. Seven election bills have been introduced, and only one of those bills — which requires the state’s Department of Natural Resources to provide voter registration information to people getting a hunting or fishing license — improves voter access.
The rest of the bills seek to restrict voter access, including a documentary proof of citizenship bill that state Democrats have criticized as essentially being a poll tax.
“This has been a repeated pattern where, whenever we have seen Republican-introduced legislation, in terms of elections, it always seems to be aimed at reducing the amount of people who can vote,” Koleszar said. “Every time.”
With the GOP only in control of Michigan’s House, it’s unlikely the proof of citizenship bill — or any voter suppression bill — is likely to pass the full state legislature. But both Koleszar and Wooden are concerned that these recent efforts by House Republicans to push election conspiracy theories and discredit Benson are planting the seeds to sow discord for the 2026 midterm elections.
“We’ve seen time and again the election denial groups that exist in our state and in our country poke holes in election integrity until they win,” Wooden said. “Then they’re quiet for a little bit. And then they start poking holes again, with the hopes that this could sow enough doubt if an election doesn’t go their way. Then they can see what they can take advantage of in that situation, which is incredibly concerning.”