EAST LANSING - While debating improvements to service in secretary of state branch offices, Democratic candidate Melvin Butch Hollowell said employees should be hired to assist people waiting in line, while Republican opponent Terri Land said her goal was to eliminate lines all together.

The two candidates, who are both vying for the seat being vacated by term-limited Secretary of State Candice Miller in the Nov. 5 general election, also debated voting methods and election procedure Friday on WKAR-TV's "Off the Record," shown on public television stations across Michigan.

Hollowell, a Detroit attorney, said people often do not know which lines to stand in or what paperwork to fill out at secretary of state branch offices. He proposed hiring "greeters" who would help people with the process of registering or renewing their driver's licenses.

"That greeter going there cuts through the administrative process, points (people) to the right lines and I think raises the level of service that the people of Michigan deserve," Hollowell said.

Land, who is from Byron Center and served two four-year terms as Kent County clerk until 2000, said her goal is to not have any lines. She said this can be accomplished by extending the branch offices' hours, and by instituting a "flextime" program in which employees have staggered work hours. She said flextime would speed up transactions and improve efficiency by placing more workers in offices at noontime when traffic is heaviest, and fewer workers during the rest of the day.

Hollowell's plan of hiring at least one extra employee for each of the 173 branch offices in Michigan would break the Department of State's budget, Land added, noting the state's fiscal woes.

Although he did not provide details outlining which budget funds would be allocated to hiring the greeters, Hollowell countered by saying his idea would save taxpayers money because people would not have to fill out as much paperwork as they do now.

He also proposed adopting a policy currently used in Georgia which would waive state fees for anyone who waits more than a half hour in line to renew their license.

"It's like hot pizza delivery for your driver's license," he said, referring to a program formerly used by Domino's Pizza that guaranteed deliveries within a half hour.

Land said a better solution is to keep people from coming to the offices in the first place by letting them renew their licenses online, through the mail, over phone or by fax. She added efficiency could be improved by requiring people to update their license plate tabs every two years instead of annually.

When the debate turned to election procedure, both Land and Hollowell proposed systems whereby voters could register on election day.

Hollowell said Michigan used same-day voter registration from 1850 to 1950 and the process worked efficiently.

Land proposed using driver's licenses or state identification cards in place of voter registration cards. She said the system would be more convenient because federal law requires that voters present an identification number at the election booth, and if a license with outdated information is used, the person's profile on the Qualified Voter File, Michigan's voter registry, can be updated at the branch office.

Hollowell said he opposes Land's idea because personal information such as social security numbers can be released when people use their licenses to vote, and scanners might not always be able to read swiped licenses.

"I don't want to have all of that information on the back of these driver's licenses because the state is not very good - and the government as a whole is not very good - at protecting information," Hollowell said.

Land responded by saying the strip on the back of licenses that would be swiped by scanners contains only the information found on the front of the card - a person's birth date and license number.

"The number that's in your license doesn't mean anything unless you're connected to the Qualified Voter File," she said.

In terms of election dates, Hollowell said he would support legislation that pushed state primary elections back to after Labor Day to allow voters to return from their vacations.

"It is more potent that way, the electorate is more focused, and because it's fewer weeks, it's going to mean less money involved," Hollowell said.

Land proposed consolidating the current system into four elections that would separately deal with issues such as education or the justice system. She said such elections, which would be held at various times in the year, would increase the turnout of voters interested in specific issues.

Despite proposing such changes, both Hollowell and Land agreed candidates for secretary of state should continue to be nominated at party conventions and not selected in primaries, like the candidates for governor.