Things run smoothly on Election Day

Aside from a few isolated incidences that were quickly resolved and did not stop any residents from casting their ballots, there were no widespread election issues reported in Oakland County on Tuesday, according to state and local election officials.

Jake Rollow, Michigan Department of State spokesperson, said the office did not receive any reports of voting or election equipment issues in Oakland County.

“Turnout has been strong at the polls and absentee ballots came in at a quick pace,” he said. “None of the tabulators that were reported to have had temporary issues were in Oakland County. And, we haven’t heard of any issues more generally either.”

Earlier Wednesday, around 10 of the state’s 4,000 ballot tabulators went down. All 10 were brought back online quickly and none of those tabulators were in Oakland County. State election officials called it an isolated issue and one that occurs in every election.

Oakland County’s overall turnout numbers, which includes inperson and absentee voting, will not be available until Wednesday. As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, the latest update available, the Michigan Department of State reported that 262,956 absentee ballots had been received by Oakland County clerks of the 324,820 sent countywide. That’s a return rate of 81%.

As of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, around 1.8 million absentee ballots had been received by clerks statewide of the 2,025,581 absentee ballots requested. State election officials also reported 12,537 same-day voter registrations, which is a decrease from the 2020 general election when there were around 30,000 sameday voter registrations.

During the last gubernatorial election in November 2018, countywide turnout was 64.53% with over 612,000 ballots cast across the county. Statewide, the turnout was 28.2% with over 2.2 million ballots cast.

Overall voter turnout is expected to be higher than in 2018, which was the year Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal making no-reason absentee a state law. Since 2018, the number of voters choosing to vote absentee has continued to climb, increasing turnout numbers.

Longer lines were reported mainly at polling locations in college towns, like Ann Arbor and East Lansing, but polling places, in general, saw strong turnout across the state, according to Rollow.

According to state election officials, the biggest Election Day issue occurred earlier in the morning and involved the city of Detroit’s electronic pollbooks.

An electronic pollbook, or laptop based “e-pollbook,” is used to confirm a voter is registered and has not been issued or has not cast an absentee ballot.

“According to the Detroit Clerk’s office, in a few instances this morning upon checking in a voter, some e-pollbooks displayed an error message stating that the number on the ballot they were about to provide to the voter in the precinct was identical to a number on an absentee ballot that had already been issued,” said Rollow. “When this occurred, the poll worker added an additional letter to the precinct ballot to distinguish them from the absentee ballots. Then voters, because they actually had not received or cast an absentee ballot, were issued the precinct ballot. In all circumstances eligible voters were able to vote.”

The Michigan Bureau of Elections assisted the Detroit City Clerk’s office to quickly address the issue to ensure that all voters were able to vote.

ON THE GROUND

In Pontiac, the county’s fifth-largest city and a community with historically low voter turnout, no matter the election, parking lots at the Robert Bowens Center and the Salvation Army Building on the city’s east side were crowded with a steady streams of voters. The entryway to the parking lot was cluttered with campaign signs.

Aleyah Joseph, of Pontiac, voted at the Salvation Army building, but told MediaNews Group that she almost skipped voting altogether.

“I changed my mind,” she said. “I feel like that one little vote might make a difference.”

In Auburn Hills, Dwayne Broome, 41, cast his ballot at The Apostolic Church. He’s been voting for at least 20 years, adding it’s a family tradition and part of his civic duty.

Ron Morishita, 78, of Auburn Hills, said he’s voted in almost every election. The U.S. Army veteran said voting is an important civic duty, but said researching issues and candidates has become a bigger challenge because of the high levels of misinformation.

In Waterford, Adrienne Harrold said she and her husband cast their absentee ballots weeks ago. She told MediaNews Group that she drove her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé to the polls, but only her daughter cast a ballot.

The fiancé, who declined to share his name, said he doesn’t trust politicians to keep their promises, adding that elected officials seem to “only work for rich white people and rich Black people.”

In Rochester, Susan and Daniel Fredericks voted in person at the Older Persons Commission. He said he was motivated to cast a ballot “by that fool in the White House.” She said “liberal woke culture, immigration and crime” motivated her to vote.

In Oakland Township, some residents thought this election day resembled that of November 2020 as lines stretched outside of polling locations.

Oakland Township resident Sue Grubba knew interest in Tuesday’s election was high, but when she heard more than 1,000 absentee ballots had been requested by township residents, she thought Precinct 7 would be like a typical non-presidential election.

“I think it’s more than 2020,” Grubba, a longtime precinct chair, said in early afternoon at the Musson Elementary gymnasium where voters were lined up waiting to get their ballots. “It hasn’t stopped. I don’t know when to give them (the precinct workers) a break.”

In Farmington Hills, the county’s second-largest city, shorter lines were observed around 5 p.m. as people wrapped up their workday. In neighboring Southfield, the county’s third-largest city, turnout remained steady at several polling places until the polls closed at 8 p.m.

ADDRESSING CONCERNS

Earlier Tuesday, White Lake Township Clerk Anthony Noble said his staff added voting booths at polling locations after hearing complaints from voters about long lines.

Also in White Lake Township, a small number of incorrect ballots were issued at one voting precinct, according to Noble.

He said the township includes parts of five different school districts with every precinct having ballots from several of the districts.

Jaime Seling told MediaNews Group she noticed the problem when she flipped her ballot to cast votes for Waterford school board and found Huron Valley listed. She alerted election officials of the issue, which was quickly resolved.