Improvements Underway At Secretary Of State

DETROIT (WWJ) - An improved Michigan Secretary of State is in the works. In addition to a new elections crime unit and better customer service, another critical issue being addressed is organ donation.

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said Michigan has a low number of people who donate and it's costing lives.

"Unfortunately, people are dying every week, waiting. Michigan was sixth from the bottom and we're so pleased because we've put together a round table of experts and legislators and people that have their family members who have donated organs. We've got this great group that came up with two pages, I told them we don't have any money at the state and help me do a better job."

Johnson said through new policies and additional outreach, they've seen a significant increase in the number of people signing up to donate organs, in comparison to previous years.

As the presidential candidates move full swing into their push for the White House, the move to improve voters' convenience and security here in Michigan is on as well, and that includes a new elections crime unit.

"The first thing that we're going to do is clean up our voter rolls," said Johnson. "We know that there's too many folks on the qualified voters file that aren't qualified. We know that there are tens of thousands of people that are deceased on there. There are lots of people that have moved out of Michigan, unfortunately, about 70,000 people surrender their driver's license every year in Michigan."

Johnson says they also plan to expand their online services for customers.