Steady decline in operational efficiency throughout Michigan Secretary of State detailed in April 29, 2021 feature published by Bridge Michigan.

Titled “Renewing plates, licenses in Michigan can take months, despite promises,” the piece underscores this as a problem that is not part of the “new normal” following COVID-19.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson campaigned in 2018 as an expert at streamlining bureaucracies, promising she’d ensure customers would wait no more than 30 minutes at branches if she was elected.

Instead, waits increased — often exponentially — during Benson’s first year in office, with some branches experiencing waits of more than two hours in 2019 ….

Moreover, the April 2020 Executive Order signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which froze “civil citations on expired tags and registration … expired last month …

… and police departments have, once again, started to crack down on expired plates, which are a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and fines $100, plus court costs that can double that amount or more ….