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Honest Elections Project Files Amicus Brief Urging Sixth Circuit to Rehear Case Involving Bloated Michigan Voter Rolls

Today, Honest Elections Project filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to rehear U.S. v. Benson and force the state of Michigan to allow the U.S. Attorney General to inspect the state’s bloated voter rolls.

A copy of the brief can be found HERE.

The brief argues:

  • The Civil Rights Act of 1957 ensured equal access to elections and confidence in voter records, authorizing the United States, acting through the Attorney General, to initiate civil actions to protect the right to vote, which includes rooting out fraud, as illegal votes cancel out lawful votes.

  • Longstanding precedent and Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 establishes voting records be made available “upon demand in writing by the Attorney General… for inspection” and is not subject to judicial second-guessing.

Jason Snead, Executive Director of Honest Elections Project released the following statement: 

“The Sixth Circuit’s decision denying DOJ access to Michigan’s voter file recreates the sort of obstruction that Congress has expressly outlawed, allowing states to stonewall federal access to voter records and obstruct enforcement of the Civil Rights Act. Michigan is hiding behind a legal sleight of hand, claiming that individual voter records that federal law plainly requires be preserved and made available for inspection suddenly become untouchable when assembled into a single voter roll.

“Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Michigan Democrats are going to far greater lengths to hide their voter rolls than to clean them, and have a long history of serious problems with bloated voter rolls. The Attorney General’s inspection request is in compliance with federal law and aimed at ensuring public trust in elections. Only Benson knows why she is so worried about basic transparency.”

Background:

 

  • In 2021, HEP won a lawsuit against the state of Michigan, under Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, forcing it to clean up its bloated and inaccurate voter rolls.
  • The state was required to remove nearly 200,000 individuals with outdated records from Michigan voter rolls as a result.
  • In February 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan dismissed the federal government’s original lawsuit requesting to inspect the state’s voter rolls.
  • In June, the Sixth Circuit ruled that the Department of Justice cannot compel states to disclose unredacted statewide voter registration lists under Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
  • The Department of Justice requested a rehearing of the case en banc.
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