Michigan secretary of state candidates outline priorities

Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist outlined his plan to overhaul the state’s campaign finance system in a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday.

Gilchrist, a Democrat, is running for secretary of state against Republican Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini.

Gilchrist said there needs to be mandated transparency in election financing.

“So I’m going to push for stronger disclosure rules, so voters can see who’s funding the political messages coming across their TVs, their phones, and their mailboxes, social feeds, and streaming,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist also wants to speed up enforcement of campaign finance law by coordinating with the state attorney general’s office to crackdown on violations.

“The rules should be simple. If you break Michigan campaign finance law, there should be meaningful consequences quickly,” he said.

Gilchrist also supports limiting the number of certain fundraising committees tied to federal officeholders – called leadership political action committees – that candidates can have.

Forlini, for his part, has made election security the centerpiece of his campaign.

At a Wednesday news conference in his capacity as Macomb County Clerk, Forlini discussed ways that third-party groups are often a problem when it comes to voter registration.

Forlini said his office has processed over 5,000 voter registration applications in the past couple of weeks for people who were already registered.

“It takes time away from serving legitimate voters. It takes time away from preparing for an election, and it puts another workload on people who are already carrying a tremendous responsibility,” Forlini said.

Forlini reiterated that the groups generally aren’t breaking the law – though he did wonder why they were necessary.

“Many organizations conduct legitimate voter registration drives, but Michigan voters deserve to ask a very simple question: ‘Why should sensitive personal information have to pass through an unnecessary middleman when a voter can submit that information directly to the government?’”

Forlini indicated that state legislators have been uninterested in limiting the ability of these groups to operate.