Absentee voting opens next week for primary
Despite deadline havoc from lawsuit, ballots ready to go out for June 23 start
Circumstances beyond the control of Oakland County election officials threatened to create deadline havoc. But by Saturday, city, township and village clerks will have ballots in time for absentee voting, which starts June 23.
“Elections don’t come together in one day,” County Clerk Lisa Brown told The Oakland Press. “Many voters don’t realize how much goes into making sure ballots are correct.”
Among the challenges while getting this primary ballot ready was a lawsuit filed by Republican Perry Johnson, one of several candidates for governor whose petitions were rejected by the board of state canvassers. Johnson sued to get his name on the ballot. The Associated Press reported that a federal judge rejected the lawsuit Monday.
That decision allows county officials to move forward with ballot delivery.
Another candidate whose name won’t appear on the ballot, former Detroit police Chief James Craig, has launched a write-in campaign.
Voters will see the following Republicans hoping to challenge Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November: Bloomfield Township resident Kevin Rinke, Muskegon County resident Tudor Dixon, Allendale resident Ryan Kelley, Onsted native Garrett Soldano and Farmington Hills resident Ralph Rebandt.
Kelley’s name remains on the ballot, though he faces federal misdemeanor charges for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington D.C. Joe Rozell, Oakland County’s director of elections, said should Kelley enter a plea or otherwise face conviction, “it would be up to the courts” if votes for him are counted.
“There’s nothing automatic in the election law about this,” he said, noting that having a misdemeanor
or even a felony conviction won’t keep a person’s name off the ballot — unless they were convicted of a felony while holding public office.
Brown said her staff worked really hard to ensure they followed “the letter of the law to a T. We’ll be meeting the statutory deadline.”
Voters, she said, should start looking now to make sure they know where they’ll be casting a ballot, if they choose to vote in person on Aug. 2. City, township and village clerks should have mailed out new voter cards showing a person’s precinct and district information.
She urged people to use online resources to see a sample ballot, and learn how any redistricting decisions affect their choices for the upcoming primary election.
People can also go online to verify their vote information, visiting Michigan Secretary of State’s elections webpage. Voters can learn more about candidates and ballot issues by visiting the non-partisan website, Vote411.org.
People interested in working at the polls as election inspectors on Election Day or working on the team that counts absentee ballots, can apply online through Oakland County’s website or the Michigan Secretary of State’s website. These applications must be printed and filled out by hand, but an image of the completed document can be emailed to the state or county offices, Brown said. As long as an election worker is certified, she said, they can work anywhere in the county. Rozell said Oakland County will hire close to 240 election inspectors this year.