- Democrat Garlin Gilchrist and Republican Anthony Forlini are campaigning to be Michigan’s next secretary of state
- The winner succeeds term-limited Democrat Jocelyn Benson, who is running for governor
- While most polls close at 8 pm, some in the Upper Peninsula will remain open until 9 pm
LANSING — Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist was off to an early lead Tuesday against Republican Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini in the race to succeed Jocelyn Benson as secretary of state.
The secretary of state oversees elections, motor vehicle registrations and campaign finance. Benson, a Democrat who is term-limited out of office, is running for goveror and off to an early lead against Republican US Rep. John James.
Both Gilchrist and Forlini promise improvements for the office that oversees 131 branches and 1,500 employees, including more transparency and better service.
They also both agreed on the need to modernize campaign finance reporting, as well as the need to better support local clerks.
Beyond that, they have very different plans for what they hope to accomplish if they take office.
Throughout the campaign, Forlini emphasized his experience with running elections as clerk of the state’s third-largest county, Macomb, a role he’s held since 2021.
Gilchrist, the state’s lieutenant governor for the last eight years, cited his background as a software engineer as evidence he knows how to make systems more efficient and protect residents’ data.
During an October debate, Gilchrist said he would be the “chief privacy officer” for the state and resist federal involvement in Michigan elections while Forlini promised to clean the state’s voter rolls.
In that same debate, Forlini would not give a strict yes-or-no answer about turning over voter rolls to the federal governmentHe said he saw clean voter rolls as a mutual goal of his and the federal government, regardless of who is in the White House.
But, as Macomb County Clerk, Forlini also ordered an independent audit of the county’s 2020 election results, which critics said gave credence to unfounded conspiracy theories.
Gilchrist outraised Forlini, cumulatively raising just under $3.1 million this cycle to Forilini’s cumulative $810,000, according to October campaign reports.
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