Election Day was quiet, but police prepared for anything
The country was uneasy in the days leading up to Election Day.
Reports surfaced of businesses boarding up windows in preparation for possible rioting. There were fears of violence or voter intimidation at the polls.
Statewide, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued an order banning firearms at election sites. Gun rights groups challenged the order and won in court. Voters wondered if they would encounter people carrying weapons as they voted.
But voting across Michigan — and Oakland County — was uneventful. But police were prepared for anything.
Jake Rollow, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of State, said Tuesday afternoon there had been no reports, isolated or widespread, of voter intimidation tactics at polling locations statewide, including in Oakland County.
“It has been a very quiet day,” he said.
Mike McCabe, undersheriff at the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, told The Oakland Press the office had not received any reports of voter intimidation at the polls.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Tuesday afternoon that “things are going great here in Michigan” on Election Day.
“I would say things have been blissfully uneventful,” she said. “We’ve had virtually no disturbances at all here in Michigan at the polls.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard is vice president of the Major County Sheriffs of America, which issued a statement Monday on Election Day safety:
“Major County Sheriffs of America are elected to ensure public safety for 120 million Americans. As such, we are concerned about reports of voter intimidation and threats of potential violence related to tomorrow’s election. As elected sheriffs of all political stripes we are intimately familiar with the realities of political campaigning. It can generate a lot of emotion and strong feelings. However, voter intimidation and violence have no legitimate place in our elections,” the statement said.
The sheriffs’ association said it “condemns in the strongest terms violence of any type associated with elections.”
The sheriffs said it’s their responsibility to “enforce the law without bias, partisanship or prejudice.”
They said their officers would work on Election Day and the days following to ensure the safety of all citizens.
In Oakland County, voters encountered patrol cars at election sites Tuesday, with most keeping their distance so they did not intimidate anyone.
The West Bloomfield Police Department had been preparing for Election Day for several weeks, Deputy Chief Curt Lawson said in an email.
Officers were visible around the perimeter of polling sites “with the purpose of not making anyone uncomfortable with our presence but to make people feel safe to exercise their right to vote,” Lawson said.
The Troy Police Department posted on its Facebook page that officers would be patrolling the polls, as they always do on election days.
“We’re out here today if you need us,” the Facebook post said.