Democrat Jocelyn Benson enters Michigan Secretary of State race

Michigan Secretary of State candidate Jocelyn Benson.(John F Martin (Courtesy Jocelyn Benson campaign))

Detroit attorney Jocelyn Benson is officially in the race to be Michigan's next Secretary of State.

Benson, the former dean of Wayne State University Law School, is rolling out her campaign with events in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing Tuesday. She's the first Democrat to enter the 2018 Secretary of State race.

On her campaign website, Benson said if elected she would introduce a "30-minute guarantee" on wait times at Secretary of State offices and would fight to ban new vehicle fees.

She also said she'd work to make Michigan "the national model for election security" and protect elections from tampering and hacking.

"The people of Michigan deserve a Secretary of State who works as hard as they do," Benson said in a statement announcing her campaign. "We need to show the hardworking people of Michigan that their time matters. They have the right to demand efficient service and results and, under my leadership, the Secretary of State's office will deliver."

She is currently the CEO and executive director of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality and is a co-founder of Military Spouses of Michigan. Benson also serves on several national boards.

Benson first ran on the Democratic ticket for Secretary of State in 2010 in a bid to replace term-limited Republican Terri Lynn Land. Benson was defeated by Republican Ruth Johnson, who won a second term in 2014 and will be term limited out of office in 2018.

Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot, MSU assistant professor Joseph Guzman and  Mary Treder Lang have filed to run for Secretary of State on the Republican side.

The final nomination for both parties will be decided at Republican and Democratic state conventions.

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