How Many Registered Voters In Washtenaw County
On Tuesday, November 2nd, virtually one-half of Washtenaw County's population has something to vote on when casting a ballot in the election.
WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with Washtenaw County director of elections Ed Golembiewski near the election and what issues voters are deciding.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Lisa Barry: Nov second is Election Day in many communities, including in Washtenaw County. I'm Lisa Barry, and joining u.s. now to talk about what voters will find on the ballot is County Director of Elections Ed Golembiewski. Thank you for talking to u.s..
Credit Lisa Barry / 89.ane WEMU
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89.1 WEMU
Ed Golembiewski: Oh, you lot're very welcome. Thanks for having me.
Lisa Barry: How busy of a ballot and election process has this been for yous?
Ed Golembiewski: As you mentioned, voters in several communities have an election on November second, including the urban center of Ann Arbor. Voters will have four charter amendments to vote on in that location. And then there are city council and mayoral elections happening in the cities of Chelsea and Milan and a City Quango election in the city of Saline and a millage proposal in Pittsfield Township. In addition to that, voters in a very small expanse of the county in the Columbia School District also have a proposal to vote on. So, what that adds upwardly to is roughly half of the canton, population-wise, does have some detail on the ballot on Tuesday.
Lisa Barry: I think we've heard the most near the Ann Arbor ballot initiative returning to ranked choice voting and that, even if they corroborate it, will not go into effect unless the state approves information technology. Correct?
Ed Golembiewski: That's right. It would take legislative activity at at the state level to actually implement ranked choice voting.
Lisa Barry: If information technology'due south approved, how unique would that exist?
Ed Golembiewski: Well, Ann Arbor would bring together the ranks of actually just a small number of communities right at present. The metropolis of Ferndale has adopted ranked choice voting, but has not been able to implement it yet for the same reason. And Eastpointe actually did implement ranked choice voting for city elections held for the last couple of years, and Eastpointe did implement ranked pick voting, equally a upshot of a Department of Justice directive, over the by couple of city elections that they've held.
Lisa Barry: Looks like Pittsfield Township did a pretty quick pin and put the public prophylactic taxation hike dorsum on the ballot.
Ed Golembiewski: Yep, that'southward right. Voters did reject it one time this year, and it is dorsum on the ballot in a modified form on Tuesday.
Lisa Barry: Register to vote. How long exercise nosotros have to do that?
Ed Golembiewski: Voters tin can still register in Michigan. You lot can now annals up to eight p.m. on Election Day. So, if y'all haven't registered still or need to update your voter registration, in that location's notwithstanding time to do that. You will need to visit your urban center or township clerk's part in person in order to practice that. The clerk's offices are open today, Monday, and, of form, tomorrow, Tuesday, Election Twenty-four hours upwards until viii p.one thousand.. What the voter volition need to practise, or the new voter--prospective voter--volition need to bring is proof of residency, given that we are in the narrow window of time right before and on Election Day. Voters are legally required to show proof of residency when they register, and that would include a Michigan driver's license or land ID, a current utility bill or bank statement, a paycheck or other regime check, or another government document. But, otherwise, voters can, of course, go in person to register again until eight p.m. on Ballot Mean solar day, and they can receive a ballot right then and there at the clerk'south function.
Lisa Barry: What percentage of the population in Washtenaw County is registered to vote?
Ed Golembiewski: Well, in Washtenaw County, information technology's quite a high number. It's around 95, 96 percent of the population that is eligible to annals to vote. Those folks are. So, we see a very high charge per unit of registration. Currently, there are about 320,000 registered voters in Washtenaw County.
Lisa Barry: And absentee voting however playing a large role in this election?
Ed Golembiewski: Information technology very much is. And, in fact, most ballots bandage during this election will be bandage by absentee ballot. At nowadays, at that place's about twenty,000 absentee ballots that have been received past voters for this election, and that number will continue to get upward. Ballots can be submitted. Absentee ballots can be returned by eight:00 p.m. on Election Twenty-four hours. And then, if you still have your absentee election and have it sent back or delivered it back to your clerk's office, at present is the fourth dimension to do that. And it would exist all-time, given how close we are to the ballot, to practise that in person. Y'all tin can evangelize it directly to the city or township clerk'southward role or to a drop box that's located in your community.
Lisa Barry: Are you lot seeing an increasing trend in that's how people want to or choose to vote in Washtenaw County?
Ed Golembiewski: Absolutely, yeah. We saw a dramatic increase terminal year, of course, equally a consequence of the pandemic. Voters opting to vote equally safely equally they could from domicile. And that trend has continued this year. We've held elections in May and in Baronial and seen a significant increase in the number of absentee ballots issued. And again, information technology will probably business relationship, y'all know, voters casting an absentee ballot volition probably account for something similar 85 per centum of all ballots bandage in this election.
Lisa Barry: Ah, yes, the pandemic. How could I forget? Merely you'll, despite that, you lot volition notwithstanding have all of your polls staffed and people can vote in person?
Ed Golembiewski: That's right. Polls will be open tomorrow from 7:00 a.thou. until viii p.yard.. Voters should expect to see PPE in use and, of course, hand sanitizer and other ways that we can try to minimize the take a chance. Simply, yes, polling locations volition exist open as usual and will be fully staffed by poll workers fix to help.
Lisa Barry: How long in the nighttime do you think it will be to count up and tally the results?
Ed Golembiewski: Nosotros're expecting information technology to be a relatively early on dark. I do wait that we'll come across almost results, if not 100 percent of results, reported by around 11:00.
Lisa Barry: And so, that's pretty early on for you.
Ed Golembiewski: Yeah, you know, it'due south different than elections that are held in even years when nosotros're when nosotros're dealing with ballots that are very long and large numbers of voters turning out. It takes longer to be able to shut the polls after 8 o'clock. So, therefore, it takes longer for united states to report election results.
Lisa Barry: Annihilation else voters demand to know?
Ed Golembiewski: I will just add voters can visit michigan dot gov to check their voter registration, detect their sample election, and find their polling location.
Lisa Barry: Washtenaw Canton Manager of Elections Ed Golembiewski. Thank you so much for talking to the states.
Ed Golembiewski: You're very welcome. Cheers for having me.
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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You tin can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU , or e-mail her at lbarryma@emich.edu
Source: https://www.wemu.org/wemu-news/2021-11-01/washtenaws-director-of-elections-outlines-what-voters-are-deciding-in-the-november-2nd-election
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