Navigating the ballot for the primary election
Absentee ballots still outstanding
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ALPENA -- With Michigan's Aug. 4 primary election approaching and numerous absentee ballots still outstanding, City of Alpena Clerk Anna Soik is urging residents to return their ballots promptly and to carefully navigate the primary ballot so their votes on nonpartisan millage proposals are properly recorded.
In Michigan's primary system, voters select one party's ballot and may only vote within that party's contests. Selecting a party does not automatically record a vote on the millage proposals.
"On the primary ballots for this election, there is not an option to fill in an oval for just the party," Soik said. "This is because there are multiple candidates for each contest. If an oval was filled for democratic, the machine wouldn't know who to cast a vote for because there are multiple candidates and the purpose of the primary is to get to one democratic and one republican candidate for each contest on the November ballot."
Proposals, including local millages, appear separately and are nonpartisan.
"Proposals are non-partisan, so the voter must separately mark yes or no," Soik said.
Ballot layouts vary by municipality depending on what races and questions appear. For the city of Alpena, Soik described a consistent front-and-back design.
"For the city, the democratic section is on the left side, republican section in the middle, and on the right side are the proposals," she said. "This is the same layout front and back. There are no ovals to vote for a straight party ticket."
She added that voters must take care to stay within one party.
"Voters must be careful to only vote one party. If there are votes for both parties, then those contests will be invalidated. This is called cross voting," Soik said. "However, if the proposals are properly voted, then those votes will still count."
Overvoting (marking more candidates than seats available in a contest) will also invalidate that race, she explained. Voters are free to skip contests.
"Voters are not required to vote for all contests on a ballot. You can pick and choose what you want to vote for just as long as you're not voting in both parties," Soik explained.
Early voting is already underway across Alpena County, and absentee ballots have been circulating for weeks. Soik reported that the city's permanent absentee ballot list now exceeds 1,500 voters.
"As of this morning, we've issued 1,556 absentee ballots, and have received 792 back," Soik said.
Early voting itself has been light, she added.
"As far as early voting, it's going very slowly. After three days, we've had 18 city voters take advantage of early voting," Soik stated. "All of Alpena County voters now vote early in the same location. The turnout so far is at 50 voters, which includes the 18 city voters."
The City of Alpena's official Facebook page reinforced the urgency Monday, noting that some absentee ballots remain unreturned. Residents can use the ballot drop box located just outside City Hall, deliver ballots to the clerk's office, take them to the early voting site to insert into a tabulator, or bring them to their precinct on Election Day.
Early voting continues through Sunday, Aug. 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Charter Township of Alpena office. The setup mirrors Election Day, though no results are released until after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
Soik provided additional guidance for the remaining days.
"Absentee ballots can be received in our office now through Monday, Aug. 3 at 4 p.m.," Soik said.
New voter registrations are accepted through 8 p.m. on Election Day; depending on the time of registration, clerks will either send voters to their precinct or issue an absentee ballot if there is insufficient time to reach the polls before closing.
The Clerk's Office at City Hall will be open this Saturday, Aug. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to issue and receive ballots and to register new voters. Soik strongly advised against mailing ballots at this stage. Preferred return methods are the City Hall drop box, the clerk's office, the early voting site (where the ballot can be inserted directly into a tabulator), or the voter's precinct on Election Day.
Ballots dropped off or mailed to City Hall remain secure until the Absent Voter Counting Board processes them – either during pre-processing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, July 31, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, or on Election Day itself.
Josh Jambor can be reached at jjambor@thealpenanews.com.