Remember when then candidate for the Secretary of State office Jocelyn Benson campaigned all over the state of Michigan promising that our wait times at the Secretary of State offices would be no longer than 30 minutes?

Well Jocelyn Benson was elected and she is now

No one expected her to achieve that goal in less than a year but did you think that with that promise in hand in only 8 months of her being in office our wait times would actually get worse?

Well the Detroit News looked into how well Ms. Benson was doing at decreasing our time in line at the Secretary of States office and it does not look good my friends.

The Detroit News found the following:

  • In July, Detroit residents looking to renew plates or get a driver's license at the branch office on West Grand Boulevard endured an average wait time of 130.8 minutes, according to data from the Secretary of State office compiled by Bridge Magazine. That's over two hours and an additional 31.1 minutes longer than last year.
  • Citizens in Ann Arbor are now looking at an average 136 minute wait, an increase of 23.4 minutes from last year.
  • Novi residents can now expect an average wait time of 182.8 minutes, a 62.7 minute increase from last year.

Secretary of State Benson blames the problem on the previous administration’s downsizing the Secretary of State offices from 174 to 131.  Well Ms. Benson you knew that fact when you were running for office last year and making your 30 minutes or less claim.

Ms. Benson was also quoted in April of this year stating:

But we inherited a broken system, one that is a result of deep challenges and decisions that were made far before I got there that brought us where we are today.

Are you saying Ms. Benson that you made that claim while campaign when you really had no idea what challenges you might be facing?

The point of this piece to not to pick on Ms. Benson, she was acting like too many politicians do, saying whatever she needed to say to get elected.  Did she really want to reduce our wait time to 30 minutes or less, I am sure she did.  The problem is too many politicians or wannabe politicians make promises on the campaign trial they have no idea if they could actually be achieved.

Where does that leave us citizens?  It leaves us with empty hands, empty wallets and waiting in longer lines.

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