Lansing - The newest Democratic candidate in the secretary of state race announced his intentions to run Friday.

State Board of Education member John Austin announced his intention to run for secretary of state - for the second time. Austin dropped out of the race for a Democratic nomination in 1998 to balance the ticket, moving aside for Democrat Mary Lou Parks.

The secretary of state candidates are voted on by delegates at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

Austin said, as secretary of state, he would work for election reform by monitoring campaign financing and increasing participation.

“I reject the notion that your vote doesn’t count but the size of your wallet and the check you can make does,” Austin said.

Austin runs against Melvin “Butch” Hollowell for the Democratic seat on the ticket - and Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of the Lansing-based newsletter “Inside Michigan Politics,” said this could cause problems for Austin.

“Butch Hollowell is black and they may decide they need a black candidate,” Ballenger said. “They always run black candidates on the ballot for ticket balancing.”

Hollowell, a Detroit lawyer, said as secretary of state he also wants to focus on election reform and making the offices more consumer-friendly.

“I’m running because people died for the right to vote,” he said. “Based on what I saw as Gore’s lawyer in Florida, that right is not entirely secure - I want to make sure that want happened down there never happens in Michigan.”

Hollowell said he also wants to change the inner workings in the offices by extending the hours of operation and placing electronic booths in malls and supermarkets for easy driver’s license renewal.

Republican candidate Anne Norlander also said her goal is to make Secretary of State’s offices more customer-friendly.

“My No. 1 priority is to shorten the customer’s time in line by 50 percent,” said Norlander, a Calhoun county clerk. “Everyone’s visit to their branch office should be efficient and pleasant and it should take as little time as possible.”

Norlander said she also wants to focus on changing the voting process to a standardized method across Michigan - changing to an optical scan method.

Norlander runs against state Sen. Loren Bennett, representing Canton, and Kent County Clerk Terri Lynn Land for the Republican seat in the elections.

Land said her main goal is to improve the technology involved with voter registration - making the overall process more reliable. She wants to use an individual’s driver’s license as a voting card - storing voting information in the magnetic strip on the card.

“We could use this at the polling place where the clerks now simply eye your signature,” Land said. “Your digitized signature will be in the computer and they’ll pull it up and you’ll get your ballot. This would help eliminate fraud.”

Bennett said he also wants to help the Secretary of State’s offices catch up with the latest technology changes. His major idea - updating their files from microfilms to computer databases.

“It will be less storage and less expensive than the current system,” Bennett said. “The documents will be preserved in a much smaller area with easier retrieval.”

Green Party candidate Ray Ziarno could not be reached for comment.

Ballenger said he is surprised at how early the candidates are campaigning - and how pointless the promises are at this point.

“What they’re saying and who they are doesn’t matter as much as the powers that be in the convention,” Ballenger said.