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By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
Tuesday, Nov. 5 will be your final opportunity to vote in the 2024 General Election. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mason County Press will be reporting on the unofficial results of the local races as we obtain the information. Keep in mind that just because the polls close at 8 p.m., it does not mean that the results are reported instantly. Election workers must secure the ballots at the polling places and then transport them to the Mason County Courthouse where they are counted by Mason County Clerk Office personnel. This process alone can take at least two hours. It’s very likely that unofficial results won’t be reported until at least 11 p.m. if not later.
MCP’s concentration will be to report the results of local races first with totals for national and state elections reported once all information is received. All results reported Tuesday night and Wednesday morning will be unofficial results. The Mason County Board of Canvassers will release the final results after it meets on Thursday, Nov. 7. See more below.
View Your Ballot. Naturally, the headlining race is the U.S. presidential race but there are many more national, state, and local races happening along with some local ballot issues. To see what your ballot is going to look like, visit the Michigan Secretary of State’s website Michigan Voter Information Center here. This is a great resource to see exactly what is on your ballot.
Absentee Voting: If you are voting absentee and have not turned in your ballot yet, you have until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5 to turn it into your city or township clerk. You have gone beyond the point of mailing your absentee ballot. Those not received at 8 p.m. Tuesday will not be counted. The Michigan Secretary of State suggested mailing the ballot within two weeks of election day and recommended handing in the ballot. You may bring the ballot to the polling place where you would normally vote in person. You can even place it into the tabulating machine yourself if you would like.
If you have already voted by absentee it is too late to change an absentee ballot. That would have had to have been done by the second Friday before the election. If you have not turned in your ballot yet, however, you may spoil your ballot in person at the clerk’s office until 4 p.m. today. You may also surrender your ballot or sign a statement stating that the ballot was lost or destroyed and then you may vote in person on election day.
Write-In Voting: There are at least two local elections with active write-in campaigns: Mason County Central Board of Education and City of Ludington treasurer. In those cases, if you are going to vote write in, you must fill in the oval next to the blank line, as you would voting for a registered candidate, and then you must print the candidate’s name in line provided. Make every effort possible to spell the name correctly, but any variation of the name spelling for that candidate is allowed. Only declared write-in candidates will receive the votes.
While the number of write-in votes will be released with the unofficial results, the actual candidates will not be listed until after the votes are certified. See below for more information.
Polling Place Conduct. A clerk, a member of the clerk’s staff, and/or an election inspector is empowered to ask a person engaging in any of the below conduct to leave the voting location and, if the person refuses to leave, request that law enforcement remove the person from the voting location.
- Michigan election inspectors have the “full authority to maintain peace, regularity, and order” in the polling place, and to “enforce obedience to their lawful commands during any primary or election and during the canvass of the votes after the poll is closed.”
- Local clerks and their staff have full authority to issue instructions and direction to anyone present in the polling place, and those persons are required to obey all lawful instructions or directions issued by the clerk or their staff. In particular, clerks and their staff have full authority to instruct and direct election inspectors.
Campaigning. Michigan law prohibits campaigning within 100 feet of any building entrance used by voters to enter a polling place. Doing so is a misdemeanor.
Final Results, Certification. While the Mason County Clerk’s Office will have a tally of unofficial results Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning, certified results are not expected until at least Nov. 13 or 14, according to Mason County Clerk Cheryl Kelly.
Each of the 83 boards of county canvassers in the State of Michigan is currently composed of two Republican members and two Democratic members, appointed by the county board of commissioners to four year terms. The board members are responsible for canvassing the votes cast within the county they serve. The board members certify elections for all local, countywide and district offices which are contained entirely within the county they serve.
The Mason County Board of Canvassers members are Alan Wernette (D), Christaine Fonnesbeck (D), Lyla McClelland (R), and Cynthia Johnson (R).
List of Mason County polling locations:
Amber Township: Amber Township Hall, 171 S. Amber Rd.
Branch Township: Branch Township Hall, 6688 E. First St.
Custer Township: Custer Township Hall, 1950 E. US 10
Eden Township: Eden Township Hall, 3369 E. Hawley Rd.
Free Soil Township: Free Soil Community Center, 8480 N. Democrat St., Free Soil
Grant Township: Grant Township Hall, 843 W. Hoague Rd.
Hamlin Township: Hamlin Township Hall, 3775 N. Jebavy Dr.
Logan Township: Carr Area Fire Department, 3975 S. Tyndall Rd.
Meade Township: Meade Township Hall, 5435 E Free Soil Rd.
Pere Marquette Charter Township:
– Precinct One: PM Township Hall, 1699 S. Pere Marquette Hwy.
– Precinct Two: Calvary Baptist Church, 220 N. Jebavy Dr.
- Riverton Township: Riverton Township Hall, 2122 W. Hawley Rd.
- Sheridan Township: Sheridan Township Hall, 6407 E. Dewey Rd.
- Sherman Township: Sherman Township Hall, 3854 Main St., Fountain
- Summit Township: Summit Township Hall, 4879 W. Deren Rd.
- Victory Township: Victory Township Hall, 4411 N. Stiles Rd.
City of Ludington
– Precinct One: Ludington Municipal Building Community Hall, 400 S. Harrison St.
– Precinct Two: Trinity Evangelical Church, 1212 Monona Dr.
– Precinct Three: Ludington Municipal Building Council Chambers, 400 S. Harrison St.
– Precinct Four: Danish Brotherhood, 1014 S. Madison St.
– Precinct Five: Ludington Fire Dept., 918 E. Tinkham Ave.
– Precinct Six: Emanuel Lutheran Church, 501 E. Danaher St.
City of Scottville: Scottville City Hall, 105 N. Main St.
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