Traverse City Record-Eagle

Region

July 21, 2010

What you need to know about the primary

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Planning to cast a vote in the upcoming primary election?

Your ballot Aug. 3 could decide whether some counties can take your tax dollars to fund 911 and seniors' services, and keep candidates you want for local and state offices in the running until November.

The primaries don't have the same draw as the fall general election — typically, fewer voters head to the polls in August than in November — but regional county clerks insist it's still as important.

Here's what you need to know:

• You'll get one ballot at your precinct polling site. It will be divided by political party, and you won't be able to split your ticket.

Besides selecting Republican or Democrat, you also will be able to choose candidates in nonpartisan races and vote for ballot proposals.

"We try to educate the voters as they come in," said Linda Coburn, Grand Traverse County clerk.

• People who qualify to vote absentee have until 2 p.m. on July 31 to request a ballot by mail. You have to request the ballot in writing, and it has to be returned by 8 p.m. Aug. 3.

To vote absentee, you must: be at least 60 years old, need assistance at the polls, not be in town on Election Day, be in jail before an arraignment or a trial, have a religious reason that won't permit you to vote in person, or plan to work as an election official in another precinct.

Absentee status will be posted online at www.michigan.gov/vote, the Secretary of State's office said Monday. The same site also offers a searchable database of a voter's polling site and a sample ballot.

• Across the region, voter turnout in the primaries has been about half that of the general election.

Coburn expects about 35 percent of Grand Traverse County's 66,166 registered voters, as of July 6, to cast ballots Aug. 3 — compared to the roughly 70 percent who usually vote in November.

In 2006, the last gubernatorial election year, about 35 percent of voters cast ballots in Benzie County's primary, Clerk Dawn Olney said. About 63 percent did in November.

In 2008, she said, about 28 percent of voters took part in the primary, compared to 24 percent in November.

"I never guess why people turn out or don't," Olney said. "We never know."

Part of the reason could be a primary ballot that swings heavily toward one party, said Ashley Eggleston, an election assistant in Antrim County.

In 2006, 3,095 people voted in the primary, compared to more than 11,000 people in November, Eggleston said. About 5,400 residents voted in the 2008 primary, and nearly 14,000 in the general election.

"Maybe it's somebody with stronger political party ties," she said.

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