News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The Alpena County Board of Canvassers met Wednesday to review and approve the primary election results from Tuesday. There was a large turn out around the state.

ALPENA –Voters around Michigan showed up in droves to the polls during Tuesday’s primary election and Northeast Michigan was no exception.

Alpena County’s voter turnout on Tuesday was the highest in a midterm primary election since 2010.

Alpena County Clerk Bonnie Friedrichs said 6,729 of the 23,127 registered voters cast ballots. That equates to 29.1 percent of the electorate.

Wellington Township had the highest percentage of voters to cast ballots, as 36.22 percent voted. There is a small voting base in that township, however; 71 of the 196 registered voters there cast ballots.

Alpena Township’s Precinct 3 has the highest number of registered voters in the county, with 2,597. On Tuesday, 769 of them cast ballots, which equates to 29.6 percent.

Friedrichs said she believes there are several factors led to the large turnout. She said it seems people are more interested in politics than before and are making their voices heard. The fact that there were also many property tax requests on the ballot also likely motivated the voting base, she said.

“I think people are just more engaged and involved in the voting process,” Friedrichs said. “There were also several key contested races that may have been of interest that brought people out. I think it was a little bit of many factors.”

The voting numbers in Montmorency County were also up, with 33.6 percent of the registered voters going to the polls on Tuesday. Precinct 2 in Montmorency Township had a whopping 45.8 percent turnout, while Precinct 1 in Avery Township had the lowest turnout, with only 29.4 percent of the 538 registered voters casting ballots.

The polls in Presque Isle County were also busy. Of the 10,449 registered voters, 3,882 voted. That equates to 37.2 of the electorate.

Alcona County had 37 percent of its 9,207 voters cast ballots.

Many of the precincts in the area were using new election equipment for the first time.

Although things overall went smoothly Tuesday night, there were some minor glitches. All of the results weren’t posted in Presque Isle County until about 1 a.m., as a pair of precincts didn’t have the ability to electronically send results to the clerk’s office. Election workers needed to tally the votes and then return them to the clerk’s office. There were also a few small hiccups in Alpena County, but most of those involved paperwork and not the new equipment, Friedrichs said.

“There are always a few snafus and there was a learning curve with this election because of the new equipment,” she said. “I feel it went very well with the new equipment and procedures. There were also new workers who had to deal with the high turnout. Hopefully, by November, the issues will be resolved.”

Friedrichs said there is still a need for election workers and encourages anyone who is interested to reach out the their local clerk’s office. She said people can also work at a poll outside of their precinct.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.

Voter turnout

The percent of registered voters in each county that cast ballots on Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the county clerks’ offices:

∫ Alpena: 29.1%

∫ Presque Isle: 37.2%

∫ Montmorency: 33.6%

∫ Alcona: 37%