PRIORITIES
MY COMMITMENT TO MICHIGAN
Protecting Your Right to Vote
Everyone should have the right to voice their opinions and hold their government accountable – and that process ought to be accessible, transparent, and secure. Barb Byrum has been a champion for voting improvements her entire career, including advocating for a vote-by-mail initiative and implementing it as Ingham County Clerk. As Secretary of State, she will take her track record of innovation and transparency to ensure all Michiganders can safely and conveniently participate in our democracy and exercise their inalienable rights.Michigander’s right to participate in democracy.
Securing our Elections
Our elections should be accessible, transparent, and secure. Barb Byrum was nominated to the Michigan Election Security Advisory Commission in 2019 by Jocelyn Benson and ensured that the Ingham County elections were among the safest in the nation. She’s trained election inspectors, ensuring that best security practices are in place. Now, she’s going to take that eye for security and apply it statewide, ensuring Michigan’s elections are never brought into question or vulnerable to foreign interference.
Government Efficiency
Barb Byrum knows that good government should work for the people, not get in their way. As Ingham County Clerk, she cut down long lines and wait times, turning outdated systems into efficient, user-friendly services. She modernized the way residents access vital records—what once took days now takes minutes, whether online or in-person. Under her leadership, requests for birth certificates, affidavits, and marriage licenses became just two clicks away.
Barb doesn’t just believe in better service—she’s delivered it. Her approach is simple: listen to people, streamline processes, and fight bureaucracy with practical fixes. As Secretary of State, she’ll bring that same energy to every corner of the department, making Michigan’s government work faster, smarter, and more fairly for everyone.
Advocating for Equal Rights
Barb Byrum has always believed that love is love—and that our laws and government services should reflect that. As Ingham County Clerk, she made history on March 22, 2014, when she became the first County Clerk in Michigan to legally marry a same-sex couple, following the landmark decision in DeBoer v. Snyder. That day, she proudly officiated 57 weddings for couples who had long waited for legal recognition of their love.
Since then, Clerk Byrum has continued to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, officiating countless same-sex marriage ceremonies and working to ensure all couples are treated with dignity and respect. She pushed the State of Michigan to modernize marriage license templates to allow same-sex couples to correctly reflect their gender, helping remove outdated, discriminatory language from official documents.
Combatting mis- and dis-information
Barb is an expert in election law and compliance, and as Ingham County Clerk, she has never allowed misinformation to spread. She tackles these rumors and purposefully misleading statements head-on to ensure the people of Michigan have the confidence to determine what is real and what is fake as it relates to our elections. She is a fierce fighter against the forces who want to sew discord and distrust about our elections.
Holding Government Accountable
Barb Byrum believes public service is a sacred trust—and she’s never been afraid to hold those in power accountable. As Ingham County Clerk, she’s gone beyond the expected duties of administering elections and managing records to act as a true steward of taxpayer dollars and government integrity.
When she uncovered that the County IT Director was accepting kickbacks in 2015, she took swift action—partnering with county leadership to stop the misconduct and remove the individual responsible. In 2019, she blew the whistle again, this time on the County Health Insurance Plan, when she discovered it was denying employees equal access to needed medications. Thanks to her advocacy, county employees got the treatment they deserved—and she joined the Health In All Policies Committee to make sure such discrimination never happened again.
Barb’s not just a public servant—she’s a watchdog with a backbone. In every role she’s held, she’s proven that she’ll stand up for transparency, root out corruption, and put people over politics. As Secretary of State, she’ll bring that same fearless accountability to state government.
