ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Delta County is full of passionate voters. According to County Clerk Nancy Przewrocki, that was evident over the general election early voting period.
Przewrocki says nearly each day of early voting was better than the last.
“We had a huge voter turnout, 4,141 people—which is about 4,000 more than we had in August,” she said. “We had to scramble to get more paper ballots and toner and applications to vote, but other than that, everything went well. The election workers were fantastic.”
Although not quite as packed as those nine days, precincts saw steady streams of voters throughout Election Day morning. To ensure each voter’s ballot is secure, poll workers inspect the equipment, test the accuracy of the tabulators, and verify signatures.
“The state takes a lot of measures and we take a lot of measures here locally to make sure that everything is secure,” said Przewrocki. “We make sure that every vote is counted, whether absentee or a person at the polls. Then, we take a lot of steps to make sure people don’t vote more than once.”
In May, certification became another concern for many Delta County voters when a former Board of Canvassers member and an alternate member refused to certify the results of the County Commission recall election. Both members resigned in June, and Przewrocki does not anticipate any problems when the Board of Canvassers meets to certify the general election next week.
“I don’t think we’ll have any issues this time, unless there’s issues, of course, with how they feel about certifying,” she said, “but if that’s the case it would be all four board members that would feel they need to resolve the issue.”
As for the voters, several said they are glad to see the election cycle come to an end. With so many key issues on the line, others emphasized how critical it is for everyone to cast their ballot by the end of the day.
“I vote in every election because they’re all important, local and federal, but it’s an important year overall,” said Wells Township voter Kassidy Wigand. “It’s very important to vote on, obviously, the big names but also down the ballot on all the smaller things too.”
“I think this is just a really big election, especially for women and the choices that we are able to make,” said Halle Marenger of Escanaba. “I have followed this election from the start, and I think it’s just really important for us to get out here and use our voices.”
Major Delta County races include the County Commission seats in District 3 and District 4. WZMQ 19 will be updating the results of those and other races as they come in.
