On July 23, independent U.S. House candidate Daniel Reale filed an ethics complaint against Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz for urging voters to register into the Republican or Democratic Parties. Bysiewicz’s message was promulgated in her role as a spokesperson for state government, not in any private role. Politea has the complete story here. The Politea article also collects other instances at which Bysiewicz has been hostile to minor party and independent candidates.
Michigan doesn’t have registration by party, so there’s arguably less scope for such bias. OTOH, the sitting (and term-limited) Secretary of State is “encouraging” people to vote in our August 3 primary — which has only Ds and Rs in it:
http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127–241051–,00.html
And the Bureau of Elections still hasn’t started posting a list of candidates qualified for the general election — though at least two parties (Libertarian and Constitution, called “US Taxpayers” here) already on the ballot have already nominated candidates through conventions (May 22 and June 26 respectively). There were more nominations this past weekend . . . and this coming weekend is the Green Party of Michigan convention.