Michigan House Republicans have introduced legislation that would force the secretary of state to step away from overseeing elections in any year they appear on the ballot themselves — whether running for reelection, governor, attorney general, the legislature or Congress. House Bill 5968, sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer Wortz, would hand those duties instead to the deputy secretary of state, turning what has long been a voluntary courtesy into a legal requirement.
The proposal arrives as Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who currently oversees the state's elections apparatus, campaigns as the Michigan Democratic Party's nominee for governor against Republican U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, according to Michigan Advance. House Republicans framed the bill as an accountability safeguard meant to guard against potential bias from an incumbent secretary of state who is simultaneously seeking higher office, the outlet reported. House Democrats pushed back hard, describing the measure as a political maneuver aimed squarely at Benson.
Benson herself rejected the criticism, dismissing concerns about serving as the state's top elections official while also appearing on the ballot for governor, per the same report. Under current practice, Michigan's actual vote-counting and ballot administration falls to local clerks at the county, township and city level, with the Bureau of Elections providing oversight — a structure the bill would not change, even as it reassigns the secretary's own oversight duties during election years when she's a candidate.
Republicans Frame the Bill as a Fix, Democrats See a Target
During testimony, Wortz argued that local clerks are bound to implement rules and guidance issued by the secretary of state's office, and she said the House currently lacks any ability to weigh in on those election rules because the Department of State can promulgate rules and set guidelines on its own, the Michigan Advance report noted. Wortz also said the department distributes process manuals to local clerks and that election rules and instructions can shift from year to year — a dynamic she cast as reason enough for recusal when the secretary has a personal stake in the outcome.
But the bill drew skepticism even from within the House Election Integrity Committee itself. State Rep. Mai Xiong questioned the legislation's proposed process and legitimacy, and instead floated an alternative: requiring local or county clerks who seek higher office to recuse themselves from running their own individual elections, rather than targeting the secretary of state specifically, according to the outlet's account of the hearing.
Unanswered Questions About Who Fills the Gap
State Rep. Matt Koleszar raised a structural concern that went largely unresolved during the hearing: the deputy secretary of state position isn't detailed in state law, and he questioned who would actually be appointed to oversee elections if a future secretary of state never appointed a deputy in the first place. Wortz did not provide a clear answer about how those replacement appointments would work, the Michigan Advance report said.
State Rep. Pat Outman also pressed on a separate gap, asking whether the bill would address campaign donations flowing from a deputy secretary to the incumbent secretary they serve under. Wortz confirmed the bill contains no ethics provision covering such donations, and said Michigan currently has no statutory ethics provisions addressing that scenario at all.
Bill Stalls in Committee for Now
The House Election Integrity Committee adopted substitute language for House Bill 5968 during the hearing but did not vote to report the bill to the full House floor, leaving its path forward uncertain. The bill's text and the newly adopted substitute language can be tracked through the Michigan Legislature's bill page.
The debate also touched on the current secretary of state race. Anthony Forlini, the Macomb County clerk and Republican nominee for secretary of state, already manages elections in one of Michigan's largest counties, a role cited during discussion of how local officials and statewide candidates intersect with election administration. The hearing referenced past precedent as well: former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson ran her own election when she sought the office in 2018, illustrating that the practice the bill seeks to end is not without history.
