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David Fair: With all of the primary races and ballot initiatives decided on Tuesday, one might expect turn out to be significant in Washtenaw County. From the outside looking in, the whole process of pulling off the election appeared to run smoothly. Once again, I'm David Fair, continuing WEMU's post-primary election coverage, and we're not in the business of guessing. So, joining us on the WEMU live line to offer some definitive answers is Washtenaw County Elections Director Rena Basch. Rena, thank you so much for joining us after a long election night!
Rena Basch: You're welcome! It's nice to be here, David! It's nice to be awake!
David Fair: Well, prior to Election Day, you had predicted to WEMU that voter turnout in the county would come in at about 30%. Where do we end up?
Rena Basch: We only ended up at about 25.7%. So, people didn't come out as much as I thought.
David Fair: How does that stack up to the average for a presidential election year primary?
Rena Basch: Well, it's a little low. We had previously seen closer to 30%.
David Fair: Thus, your guess. How much of the voting came via early in-person and absentee ballot?
Rena Basch: Well, the early voting sites--we only saw 4000 people across the county. So, that really accounted for about 5% of the overall turnout. The absentee ballots were up there at about 68% of turnout, which is a little higher than what we've seen over the past two federal election cycles. So, that leaves only about 27% of the people showed up on Election Day. I can't help but wonder if perhaps Election Day turnout was a little low, given all the storms that we had yesterday. It was pretty rainy and dreary for most of the day.
David Fair: A little weather shouldn't affect the democratic process. Were you a little surprised at the low turnout for early in-person voting or do you just think it's a matter of people are not accustomed to this yet?
Rena Basch: I think it's the latter. People aren't really accustomed. It's just a wee bit lower than what we saw in February. So, early voting is still brand new. People don't really know about it. People are not even sure where to go. So, we're still fielding a lot of calls about it. So, I think it's just another great option for people. And as we move forward, we can see if there's more uptick. I do know from other states that it takes a while. There's usually a slow and steady increase in the uptake of early voting.
David Fair: This is WEMU News, and we're talking with Washtenaw County elections Director Rena Basch. Rena, when will Tuesday votes be officially certified?
Rena Basch: Well, the Board of Canvassers gets started tomorrow morning at nine, and they could probably take up to a week, if not more. They go through all the paperwork and all the results for all 161 precincts that we have in Washtenaw County. So, it does take a long time. But I understand that they're very thorough groups, so I think that we can we can wait. So, I would guess in about a week or a week-and-a-half, we'll be sure that these results are certified.
David Fair: Now, there were some really close races yesterday. The third ward primary in Ypsilanti, for example, was decided by eight votes. That hotly contested race for Washtenaw County Sheriff decided by less than 400. Do you anticipate any recounts?
Rena Basch: Well, eight votes is a very small number. So, we might be hearing from those candidates. I do not think that 300 votes, although it's a small number or as a small percentage, it's a big number when you start looking at recounts. In general recounts, it barely moves the needle. Maybe just a few votes are discovered from a ballot that didn't read properly. So, I don't want to make too many predictions, but it feels to me like there would really be only one race on Tuesday's result total that would be--
David Fair: Questionable.
Rena Basch: Worth a candidate petitioning. Yeah, yeah. And you have to remember we also have a new thing in Michigan that overseas and military voters have an extra. If their ballot is postmarked by Election Day, we can still count it if it arrives in the next six days.
David Fair: Always important to remember these are unofficial totals on the day after.
Rena Basch: Right. They're unofficial totals on the day after. So, we might see a few more votes trickle in.
David Fair: Were there any security issues raised anywhere in the county?
Rena Basch: No, not to my knowledge. It felt like things ran very smoothly. We have really good checks and balances--really good systems. The clerks from the cities and the townships all really know their stuff. And we didn't really have any....I didn't take any panic complaints or calls yesterday about any issues of significance.
David Fair: Once again, there is work to be done to close out this election. But you also have to look ahead. What do you have to do to get the November ballot ready?
Rena Basch: Oh, that is a good question, David! Here comes the sprint! I'm going to put a little plug-in here. Michigan activists across the spectrum have been working very hard to improve Michigan elections. And we do have, I would say, top notch voter rights and top notch security and checks and balances. But we have a very, very tight window between the August primary and the November election. And if anything happens, like recounts or challenges to the court, it really slows down the preparations. So, it is going to be a sprint. I would love to see the Michigan primary moved back, say, to June to give all of the processes more time to unfold. So, what we're looking at right now is there is a 45-day advance of an election deadline by which, and this is a federal requirement that the military and overseas absentee ballot get mailed out. So, that means by the end of the September, 3rd week of September, we have to have ballots printed and getting in the mail. So, if you work backwards from that timeline, you can see that we do not have a lot of time. All of us election officials are wide awake the day after because we have to get prepared for the canvas. And as soon as that canvass is done, we have to start programming the ballots and then getting them proofed and then getting them printed and then getting them out to all the cities and townships to get them in the mail to the absentee voters overseas.
David Fair: You sound tired talking about it.
Rena Basch: I really think that. I hope that people can be, first of all, patient with the canvass but then understand that we are working as fast and hard as we can to get the November ballot prepared.
David Fair: Well, thank you very much for taking time today and joining us on WEMU! I appreciate it!
Rena Basch: Oh, you're welcome! It's nice talking to you, David! Thanks for your coverage!
David Fair: That is Rena Basch. She is director of elections in Washtenaw County. For more election coverage, visit our website at wemu.org.
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