News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Deputy Clerk Leilan Bruning, left, and Accounts Receivable employee Casey Kaiser take down the banner that promoted voting in the city. The voting turnout in Alpena was lower than in other communities in Northeast Michigan.

ALPENA — Nearly 2,000 voters in Alpena County didn’t cast a vote for the county’s proposed property tax increase and hundreds more didn’t vote for any of the school board candidates.

Alpena County Clerk Keri Bertrand said it’s a safe bet that people who cast straight-ticket ballots, didn’t realize or understand they needed to fill in other parts of the ballots to vote on everything on it.

Voting straight ticket only submits votes for candidates of the party a voter chooses, but does not fill in a vote for non-partisan positions or ballot proposals.

More than 17,000 voters submitted ballots in Alpena County, and nearly 9,000 voters voted via straight party ticket. The number of voters who voted straight-ticket for Republican candidates was 6,293, while Democrats only utilized the straight-party method for 2,848 ballots.

The tax proposal failed by a mere 129 votes on Tuesday. If more people completely filled out their ballot, it may have helped it pass.

Alpena County Administrator Jesse Osmer, who orchestrated large campaigns for former State Rep. Sue Allor and former congressman Dan Benisheck, said it is common for people not to finish voting on their ballot after voting straight ticket. He said in this case, it may have cost the county.

“It’s unfortunate, but it absolutely could have changed things,” Osmer said. “That is why it is important to educate voters.”

The four-year, 0.7-mill property tax hike would have raised about $800,000 a year for the county and cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $35 a year.

The proposal would have also raised property taxes in Alpena County townships by 0.29 mills, costing the owner of a $100,000 house in one of the townships another roughly $15 a year. It would have raised taxes for the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District by 0.25 mills, costing the owner of a $100,000 house another roughly $13 a year.

That would put the total cost of the proposal for the owner of a $100,000 house in an Alpena County township at about $63 a year.

If it passed, the millage would have prevented the county from making $500,000 in cuts to the sheriff’s office that the county previously said they would make.

Sheriff Erik Smith said if he is forced to make that large of cuts, he will be forced to lay off deputies and likely discontinue 24-hour road patrol.

The incomplete ballots may have also impacted the race for the three Alpena Public School Board seats up for grabs. There were three seats up for grabs and four candidates. Long-time board member Gordon Snow fell short by only 37 votes to Sarah Costain who was the third highest vote-getter.

Bertrand said people not filling out their ballot entirely is somewhat common when voters choose to vote straight ticket.

“I’m not a fan of the straight tickets because people don’t go down and vote on the other things and it can have an impact,” she said.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said on Tuesday after the polls closed, that Michigan voters had broken a record and that more than 5.6 million voters had cast ballots.

According to the election data from Alpena County, 68.1% of registered voters cast ballots either on election day, absentee, or by early voting.

Voters who live in Alpena seemed less likely to vote than others who live in surrounding communities.

Election data from Tuesday’s presidential election shows only about 62.3% of registered voters in the city voted during the election, which is well below a majority of other municipalities that posted turnout in the 70% or more and even 80% range.

The city’s turnout mirrors the 2020 presidential election in which only 62.1% of registered voters in Alpena voted.

Precinct 1 in Alpena had the lowest turnout as only 40% of registered voters cast ballots. Precinct 5 had the highest turnout with 69.9% of registered voters voting.

Turnout across the board was higher in Alpena Township, as 71% of its registered voters selected the candidates of their choice. All but one precinct in the township had a voter participation rate of more than 70%.

Voter turnout was extremely high in Presque Isle County, as a whopping 84.78% of registered voters cast absentee, early, or election-day ballots.

Alcona and Montmorency counties’ voting data were unavailable on Thursday.

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