News Photo by Steve Schulwitz The Alpena County Board of Canvassers meets on Wednesday afternoon to certify the election results from Tuesday’s primary.

ALPENA — Confusion on how to vote on a primary election ballot caused as many as a third of absentee ballots in some Northeast Michigan precincts to go uncounted.

During a primary, the Republican and Democratic races share the same ballot, but voters can only vote on the Republican side or the Democratic side. If a voter tried to vote on both sides, the votes for all of their partisan choices are not counted.

Votes for ballot proposals still count even if voters messed up the partisan section.

Voter turnout around Northeast Michigan was on par with or higher than normal for an August primary, local elections officials said, and the number of people choosing to vote via absentee ballots continues to become popular. After reforms approved by voters in 2018, voters can vote absentee without a reason.

Those two factors — crossover ballots and a high number of mail-in votes — delayed unofficial election results until late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning in many precincts.

In Alpena County, 9,757 out of the 23,930 registered voters cast ballots, for a roughly 41% turnout.

Although it was a primary election and many races were not contested, the race for county sheriff and a countywide tax proposal for ambulance services sparked interest.

County Clerk Bonnie Friedrichs said the turnout was about what it has been for the last several primaries. She thinks more people are voting in primary elections because they are more aware of local issues and eager to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

Friedrichs said the party crossover issue was significant among absentee ballots, and a number of voters wanted their ballot “spoiled” so they could fill out another.

“There was one precint that believed there was about 25% spoilage, and another about a third,” the clerk said.

Alpena Clerk Anna Soik, too, said many city voters did not complete their absentee ballots correctly, which resulted in canceled votes. The city board in charge of counting absentee ballots said many ballots were not legal.

“He told me, as they were processing the (absentee) ballots, he estimated that about 25% of them were cross-voted,” Soik said. “So all of those were invalid.”

The city sent 1,770 absentee ballots, 1,520 of which were returned.

In Presque Isle County, about 37% of registered voters cast ballots — 4,055 of the 11,101 registered voters. County Clerk Ann Marie Main said that is a large total for the county, but, for the most part, things went smoothly Tuesday night. She said there are always some snafus, but nothing raised red flags.

“We didn’t have any major mechanical issues, and, overall, I think everything went pretty good,” she said.

Alpena Township Clerk Michele Palevich said 44% of the township’s 7,654 registered voters cast ballots, with 2,116 votes cast absentee. It appears that the number of ballots that needed to be disqualified was lower than in other areas, as Palevich said about 15% of township ballots needed to be voided.

Palevich said she believes there was a lot of confusion, and more information needs to get out to voters on how to fill out a primary ballot properly.

“We need to do a better job of educating the public, and I think the media and the clerks need to work together to explain how a primary election works,” she said. “We want everyone’s vote to count, and there were too many that didn’t this time.”

The Montmorency County Clerk’s Office said 3,402 of the 8,203 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday — about 41%.

Alcona County Clerk Stephany Eller said voter turnout Tuesday was higher than typical for a primary election. She said the final percentages weren’t fully calculated Wednesday afternoon, but it appears 40% to 45% of registered voters turned out.

All of the clerks said that, for the most part, voters respected social distancing measures that were in place and many people wore masks voluntarily to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Friedrichs said the results were slow to arrive because the county does not have the ability to electronically send totals outlying precincts to the county Clerk’s Office in Alpena. In 2017, the county received a grant to update election equipment, and the modems service for all 19 precincts was free for the first two years.

In 2018, however, the cost went up to $285 a year and then to $1,800 in 2019.

This year, the county was forced to change service providers, and the new charge is $100 per modem per month — $22,800 each year.

“When you only have one or maybe two elections a year, I just couldn’t justify spending that type of money,” Friedrichs said.