Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini, the Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, is positioning his extensive local government background as the key antidote to what he describes as a deeply politicized and aging state election infrastructure.
Forlini, 64, is competing against Democratic Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II for the position of Secretary of State, a role that will become vacant as the current officeholder, Jocelyn Benson, is constitutionally restricted from seeking another term and is instead pursuing the governorship. The successful candidate will assume responsibility for administering the departments overseeing driver’s licenses and vehicle registration plates, while simultaneously directing and supervising the administration of the 2028 presidential election in a pivotal swing state.
Florini on data privacy and government transparency
In an exclusive interview with HT.com ahead of the Michigan Secretary of State election, Forlini targeted data privacy, technological upgrades, administrative efficiency, and the restoration of public trust as core pillars of his campaign. Addressing criticism regarding his pledge to halt the sharing of Michigan voter information with third-party groups, Forlini drew a sharp contrast between current state practices and his standard for data stewardship. “In Macomb, we have a campaign finance system that I pioneered which works really well, and it is a service for pennies on the dollar compared to the state system. We can scale that up and make it work statewide,” he told HT.com. Turning to election security, Forlini highlighted a pressing technological vulnerability: Michigan’s current voting equipment is nearly 15 years old.
He argued that the state administration has demonstrated hypocrisy by collaborating with private entities—such as a French firm for driver’s licenses and outside organizations handling voter data—while resisting cooperative oversight. ”It is important that we protect the Michigan citizens from unnecessary use of their data,” Forlini said. “Government only needs what is critically necessary to administer functions that the state government performs.” Chief among them is a pioneering campaign finance system developed in Macomb County that he says operates at a fraction of the cost of the current state system.
