Strong voter turnout Tuesday, says Bertrand
Roughly half of registered voters cast ballots
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ALPENA -- Fewer voters went to the voting booths for Tuesday's midterm election compared to the 2022 election. County Clerk Keri Bertrand said that overall, election day went smoothly across the county and everyone that showed up to vote were able to fill out ballots.
"A lot of people showed up," Bertrand said, in regards to the turnout for Tuesday's election. "That's good."
Bertrand noted that Long Rapids and Sanbourn townships ran out of paper ballots due to the unexpected turnout, but ballots were still made available to voters who needed them.
"It went smoothly just a couple of townships, Long Rapids township, ran out of ballots," she said. "I think Ossenieke ran out of a few. Then, Sanborn township, they also ran out, but they were able to print from their ballot on demand systems and stuff like that. Everybody did get a ballot, and everybody did get a chance to vote that wanted to vote."
Bertrand met with the Alpena County Board of Canvassars on Wednesday to certify the votes for Alpena County.
Alpena County comprises 17 voting precincts within the following: City of Alpena, Alpena Township, Green Township, Long Rapids Township, Maple Ridge Township, Ossineke Township, Sanborn Township, Wellington Township, and Wilson Township.
School board results also include voters from Presque Isle and Krakow townships in Presque Isle County.
In total, there were 26,663 registered voters in Alpena County in 2026, though only 13,994 voters voted, based on preliminary numbers presented to The News early Wednesday morning by Bertrand. The voter turnout represented 52% of the registered voter base in the county. Of the 52%, 34% voted on election day, 13% voted via absentee ballots, and 5% took advantage of early voting.
On Wednesday afternoon, Bertrand said that the official voter turnout was closer to 56% or 57% of registered voters for the county.
In the 2022 midterm election, there were 25,032 registered voters, though only 14,088 voted, based on official numbers posted on the Michigan Department of State website. The voter turnout represented 56% of the registered voter base in the county.
This year, the preliminary results showed that 2,845 voters cast a straight party ticket for Democrat candidates and 4,947 voters voted straight Republican. In total, 7,895 voters chose to vote for a single party across the ballot.
In 2022, 7,704 voters chose to cast a straight party vote. Of that number of voters, 2,663 chose to vote strictly for Democrats while 4,876 chose to vote strictly for Republicans.
Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.