Michigan’s secretary of state runs the offices that renew licenses and register cars. The same office also runs elections in the state.

Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist is one of two people running for the position. 

Gilchrist was a software engineer who then ran and lost a bid for Detroit City Clerk in 2017. Since 2018, he’s been lieutenant governor for the state. Now, he’s running for secretary of state after leaving the governor’s race. 

Why? How did Gilchrist’s role of lieutenant governor prepare him to be secretary of state? Gilchrist spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about this and more.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

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Michigan’s secretary of state oversees license renewals, car registrations and elections — the voter rolls, the rules clerks follow, and the certification of results. Jocelyn Benson is term-limited. Two candidates are running to replace her.

Anthony Forlini is the Republican. He’s the Macomb County clerk and register of deeds, and he spent six years in the state House and six as Harrison Township supervisor.

This year Forlini has been looking for noncitizens on Michigan’s voter rolls. In January he said he found 15 in Macomb County. In May he said he found seven more. The state reviewed all 15 names and found at least three of those people are citizens.

A separate state review of the 2024 election found noncitizen voting is extremely rare — 16 ballots out of roughly 5.7 million. Nessel charged five people in August.

The Metro’s Robyn Vincent spoke with Forlini about how rare noncitizen voting is and what he’d do as secretary of state.

Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, the Democrat in the race, joins The Metro next week.

Editor’s note: Forlini said noncitizens are turning up for jury duty in Macomb County. People there have claimed not to be citizens to get excused — but whether they are in fact noncitizens is not established.

The jury pool comes from driver’s license records, and Michigan doesn’t require citizenship for a license. Election administrators note that people sometimes claim noncitizenship to avoid jury duty.

He also said 96% of Republicans and Democrats voted for his bills in the Legislature. The Metro has not verified that.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and stream on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts

More stories from The Metro