Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently unveiled a new online transparency tool that makes Michigan Department of State (MDOS) records more accessible to the public.
She renewed her call for legislative reforms in 2024 to make state government more transparent and ethical.
“Transparency in government is one of my top priorities as Secretary of State,” said Benson. “But for far too long, Michigan has been among the worst states in the nation when it comes to transparency and ethics laws. The Freedom of Information Act is one of the most important tools citizens can use to hold their government accountable. This new online tool will make it easier for the public to request and receive records and will make our records more widely available to the people of Michigan.”
Benson hosted a demonstration of the new online FOIA tool at a news conference in Lansing last week.
The new online portal will make Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at MDOS easier and the results more accessible.
MDOS is the first state agency to offer an online FOIA system that publishes responsive documents on its website. Responses will be searchable by keyword and will not require an additional fee to access.
Under the previous system, FOIA requests had to be made by email, fax, mail or in person and would be manually reviewed and assigned to the appropriate business area of MDOS for processing. While those options remain available, requests made via the new online portal at Michigan.gov/MDOSFOIA will be automatically routed and processed in fewer steps.
Documents that contain highly personal information like driver’s records and vehicle records will not be published on the website, nor will information from the state’s Qualified Voter File, as it changes rapidly.
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