Lansing — A rain-sogged Election Day combined with different voting habits and a lack of competitive races at the top of the ballot for both major parties put a damper on in-person voter turnout in Tuesday's primary, election officials said.
Rain storms and even a tornado warning crossed through Michigan as voters went to polling places to choose Democratic and Republican nominees for the November general election, with many also weighing in on local issues. Even before Tuesday's primary, more than 1 million people had already voted as of Monday, officials said, using either the new early, in-person voting option or absentee ballots.
The vast majority of early votes cast came in the form of absentee ballots, according to the Secretary of State's office, reflecting a change in how elections are administered and how campaigns are waged by candidates to bank votes in the days and weeks before the primary election.
In Canton Township, Clerk Michael Siegrist said he was seeing low turnout on Tuesday. Siegrist cited the focus on the presidential race — nothing about it was on the ballot Tuesday — and not having competitive contests as two of the reasons.
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Bridgette Bowdler, the clerk in Grosse Pointe Park, said early voter turnout there had doubled for the August primary compared with the presidential primary in February, which she predicted would dampen in-person turnout on Tuesday.
“The rain has hurt us a little today, too,” Bowdler said Tuesday morning at City Hall.
Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said the turnout in Michigan's third-largest county wasn't heavy for an August primary.
"It’s August, and people just aren’t into voting in August,” Forlini said.
In Grand Rapids, the state's second-largest city, Clerk Joel Hondorp said the turnout was about 15% as of early Tuesday afternoon. Four years ago, in August, about 27% of voters had cast ballots by the end of the primary.
"It's been pretty slow," Hondorp said.
Early, in-person voting, which was authorized through a successful 2022 ballot proposal, decreased for the August primary from the presidential primary in February. More than 78,000 people took advantage of early-in person voting for the Feb. 27 primary, while roughly 73,500 participated in early, in-person voting for Tuesday’s primary, according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office.
“I think people are enjoying the concept of it," said Kara Reynolds, an election worker in Grosse Pointe. "... Folks are really happy to have the opportunity to vote early."
Benson said the 5,000-person dip in early, in-person voters from February to August reflects some "stability" in the number of people adopting the practice from one election to the next. Nonetheless, she said, officials will analyze early, absentee and same-day voting numbers after the primary to better understand voting preferences and what to expect in the fall.
“I hope we see more numbers in the fall of early voting and certainly into the future as well,” Benson said.
The absentee ballot total from Monday pointed to a likely decrease in turnout from August 2020 when 1.6 million absentee ballots were cast during the COVID-19 pandemic; as of Tuesday night, roughly 1.2 million absentee ballots had been returned for the current primary. For the August 2020 election, which featured no competitive U.S. Senate primaries, the overall turnout hit about 2.5 million, an August primary record. Tuesday's primary has competitive Republican and Democratic contests to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing.
While complete voter turnout numbers weren't available Tuesday night, Benson estimated the total would come to about 2 million, which is below other primary elections where the total number of voters averaged between 2.1 million and 2.5 million.
Some voters, however, said they showed up to vote in-person Tuesday because they've grown skeptical of vote-by-mail or because they adhere to tradition.
"I like to vote in-person. I feel more engaged," said Frank Plescia, 67, of Canton Township.
Grand Blanc resident Amanda Southard said she almost always cast her vote with an absentee ballot. But she decided she didn’t want to do that this year.
“I wanted to see how the process worked,” said Southard, 44. “They checked my ID when I voted, and they made sure my address matched what they have on file. Just to make sure the checks and balances are being applied. And they did a great job in there.”
“I just wanted to make sure my vote counted,” Southard added. “Once I put it in that machine and the flag came up, it made me feel better that I wasn’t just dropping (my vote) in a box.”
Shelby Township resident Aaron Byrd, 47, said he hadn’t voted in person since before the COVID-19 pandemic. He voted absentee over the last few years, but he said he wanted to “get back to the normalcy” of casting his ballot. He noted that he takes “pride in casting his ballot in person.”
“For me, being African American, you know, I have grandparents that never voted,” he said. “So I cast my ballot with them on my back. So it’s an honor, actually.”
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Competitive races
Tuesday's elections also were deciding a handful of Michigan congressional primary races that will set up expected competitive fall general election contests, most of which will help determine whether Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House.
Michigan voters were selecting a Democratic nominee and a Republican nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat, but former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, and current U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, were viewed as heavy favorites.
More:Rogers wades into charged debate over transgender athletes in women's sports
In the Grand Rapids-area 3rdCongressional District, attorney Paul Hudson and entrepreneur Michael Markey Jr. vied for the Republican nomination. The winner is expected to take on U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, the first-term Grand Rapids Democrat who is favored to win her primary race against Salim Al-Shatel. In 2022, Scholten became the first Democrat to win the district in about four decades.
In the 8thDistrict in the Flint and Saginaw area, two Republican candidates and three Democratic hopefuls were fighting for their parties’ nominations and a November election that will decide who replaces retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township. National political experts consider the fall contest between the two primary winners to be a toss-up.
In the 10thDistrict encompassing parts of Macomb and Oakland counties, longtime former Macomb County prosecutor and judge Carl Marlinga was facing a Democratic challenge from three female candidates, including State Board of Education memberTiffany Tilley of West Bloomfield. In November, the victor will face first-term U.S. Rep. John James, the Shelby Township Republican who narrowly won his 2022 race over Marlinga by half of a percentage point.
In the 13thDistrict, which includes parts of Detroit, the Grosse Pointes and Downriver, first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Detroit faced opposition from Detroit City Council member Mary Waters and former city of Detroit attorney Shakira Lynn Hawkins. The winner will face Republican Martell Bivings in the heavily Democratic district.
The primary election was also to determine how many state House Democratic and Republican incumbents survive challenges and advance to the November election, where GOP candidates will seek to seize control of the lower chamber from Democrats, who hold a 56-54 majority.
In local races, Oakland County voters were deciding whether Democratic Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash would overcome a primary challenge and, if so, who his Republican opponent would be in the fall. Pontiac voters were deciding whether to adopt changes to the city charter.
In Macomb County, Stanley and Sylvia Grot faced contested primaries for Shelby Township clerk and Macomb County commissioner as Stanley Grot faces criminal charges related to the 2020 false electors case brought by Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. In Wayne County, Sheriff Raphael Washington faces a Democratic opponent, while embattled Plymouth Township incumbents are fighting heated challenges for supervisor, clerk, the board of trustees and treasurer.
Comparisons of 2024 to the 2020 primary and general elections are a “bit of a challenge,” Benson said, in part because of the pandemic’s influence on how people voted and because the 2020 elections had about 5.2 million people cast ballots.
“The bottom line is people are embracing all across Michigan these new options to vote,” Benson said. “I think until we get through the fall, we won’t really know writ large what to make of the year. But we’re about on par for an August primary what we’ve seen in past primaries, not withstanding the spike in turnout that we saw in the August primary in 2020.”
Weather problems
Amelia Johnston, the Precinct 1 chairperson for Grosse Pointe Park, said it was difficult to determine what was slowing the turnout.
“It’s hard to tell if it’s slow because of the rain or because of early voting,” she said. “It’s hard to judge what’s normal because it’s still new.”
One first-time voter in Grosse Pointe voted on Saturday during early voting, citing the convenience and avoiding Tuesday's downpour.
“I think it’s not as stressful," said Rebecca Roberts, 18, of Grosse Pointe. "There’s less people, so it’s just it’s easier.”
Benson said three voting locations in Kalamazoo County − Portage, Brady Township and Oshtemo Township − had to shelter in place for a time while a tornado warning was in place.
Benson's office said several other polling locations Tuesday morning were affected by the weather — largely power outages — forcing clerks to move the voting location elsewhere. The issue hadn't disrupted voting, Benson said, as clerks were able to alert voters to the location change by online postings and notices at the affected precinct.
Communities where at least one precinct was affected by weather issues Tuesday morning included Royal Oak, Warren, Clinton Township, Three Rivers, Grand Rapids, Brady Township, Portage and Flint.
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Staff Writers Anne Snabes, Kim Kozlowski, Marnie Muñoz and Breana Noble contributed.
