Voters in Greater Lansing begin early voting for the August 6 primary

Posted on by Vaseline

LANSING — Woody Campbell was the first voter at the Foster Community Center on Saturday, the first day of early voting in the state for the Aug. 6 primary.

He arrived a few minutes before the 200 N. Foster Ave. center opened for early voting at 10 a.m., and he hung around for a few minutes while poll workers worked out some technical issues. He was back in his car by 10:10 a.m.

“I was watching the news and they said early voting was happening, so I came over,” Campbell said.

It was quick and easy and he plans to return for early voting in the general election in the fall.

Saturday marked the first time people in Michigan were able to vote early in a major election.

After voters passed a referendum initiative in 2022, Michigan counties must hold at least nine days of early voting for every state and federal election. Polls must remain open for at least eight hours on those days.

Turnout in Lansing was mixed Saturday for the first day of early voting, but the slow pace was to be expected, said Chris Swope, Lansing’s clerk of elections. He said the city’s two early voting sites — Foster Community Center and the REO Elections Office — each had fewer than 10 voters as of 3 p.m. Saturday.

Right behind Campbell was Bill Bale, who came to see if his wife, who has a disability, could easily vote early.

“I think that’s how we’ll do it from now on,” Bale said.

The setup at Foster’s resembled that of a regular election: there were several tables for check-in, tables with screens so voters could fill out their ballots, and a number of computers and boxes to process and store the completed ballots.

Early voting is supposed to be similar to in-person voting, with slightly shorter hours and only two locations in Lansing instead of the typical precinct system.

At 3:30 p.m., there were 11 voters at the Grove Street polling station in East Lansing, a number that was about what East Lansing Deputy Clerk Amy Gordon expected.

Early Voting Locations and Hours in Lansing:

East Lansing Early Voting Location Hours:

Early Voting Center, 405 Grove St., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Aug. 4.

For more:

For questions about voting in Ingham County, please call (517) 676-7201 or visit Ingham County – Elections.

For questions about voting in Clinton County, call 989-224-5140 or visit Election Information | Clinton County, MI (clinton-county.org).

For questions about voting in Eaton County, call 517-543-2488 or visit Elections | Eaton County, MI.

Contact Mike Ellis at [email protected] or 517-267-0415.

Avatar for Vaseline
Vaseline https://newspowergreen.biz.id

You May Also Like

More From Author