Anthony Forlini
Democrat or Republican?
Anthony Forlini is a Republican.
Life + Career
Forlini was born February 4th in 1962 and grew up in Macomb County. He graduated from Western Michigan University and is the owner of Design Financial Inc. He was also the supervisor of Harrison Township from 2004-2011, before serving in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2011-2016. In 2016, he ran unsuccessfully for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District. Then, in 2020, he was elected as Macomb County Clerk (re-elected in 2024).
Key Policy Positions
Supports requiring government verification of voter citizenship
Supports cleaning up Michigan’s voter rolls and expand local clerks’ access to federal citizenship-verification tools
Supports providing additional training and resources for local election workers
Supports modernizing branch-office and vehicle-registration services through reducing bureaucracy and cutting wait times
Supports increasing transparency and oversight of vote tabulation
China
No specific positions.
Immigration
Forlini is very focused on noncitizens.
In Macomb County, he claimed to have identified potential noncitizens on the voter rolls by comparing the county’s voter rolls to a list of people who had claimed noncitizen status to get out of jury duty. Subsequent state review found that some of them were verified U.S. citizens, while other cases remained under investigation or had already been canceled from the voter rolls. Secretary of State of Michigan Jocelyn Benson and other state election officials said that comparing jury-duty exemptions to voter rolls is prone to false positives because people can share similar/identical names and addresses. Macomb County also ended up subpoenaed under federal investigation.
Forlini also wants to find a way for the Driver’s License database to confirm citizenship. This could be done by linking several databases so one database can flag another database for actual citizenship verification.
Education
No specific positions.
Healthcare
Forlini is a Board member of the St. John North Shores Hospital Foundation. His legislative committee assignments also included Families, Children and Seniors.
Tax
Forlini implemented the first-ever Campaign Finance Electronic Filing System in Macomb County.
Safety
Forlini supports accountability and rule of law. This includes referring credible violations appropriately and working with law enforcement/prosecutors when warranted, publishing clear standards and performance expectations, and measuring performance, report progress, and fix what isn’t working. Alongside those topics, enforcing election law consistently, fairly, and evenly is also included, which he has already acted upon by holding an election security training in Macomb County with Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido.
Enrollment in the Fraud Notify System also multiplied by about seventeen under Forlini as Macomb County Clerk.
Criticisms
In Macomb County, he claimed to have identified potential noncitizens on the voter rolls. Benson and other state election officials said that comparing jury-duty exemptions to voter rolls (which he did) is prone to false positives because people can share similar/identical names and addresses.
Sources: michwomen.com/blog/michigan-secretary-of-state-race-2026-voter-guide, michigan.gov/sos/-/media/Project/Websites/sos/Press-releases/2026/documents/2026_01_29_MDOS_Letter_Jury_List.pdf?hash=A4B9B61BED16D64DF15A6F55A14F18EF&rev=54c5f3d6848c448abc9bcc56ce04cb42, michigan.gov/sos/resources/news/2026/01/29/secretary-benson-macomb-county-clerks-reckless-accusations-put-eligible-michigan-voters-at-risk, macombgov.org/departments/clerk-register-deeds/news/macomb-county-clerk-alarmed-about-citizenship-affecting-jury, legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-2016/michiganmanual/2015-MM-P0123-p0266-Chapter3.pdf, forliniforus.com/about.html, content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIMACOMB/bulletins/3d269ab, macombgov.org/departments/prosecutors-office/news/macomb-county-prosecutor-and-county-clerk-host-second-election, macombgov.org/departments/prosecutors-office/macomb-county-prosecutor-and-county-clerk-host-election-security, forliniforus.com/the-reports.html, forliniforus.com, macombgov.org/departments/clerk-register-deeds/news/macomb-county-clerks-office-receives-two-national-tyler, content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIMACOMB/bulletins/4062fd7
