Eaton, Clinton county voter turnout high than state average
Voters in Clinton and Eaton counties turned out at a higher rate than the state average in Tuesday's mid-term election, according to unofficial election results.
Ingham County meanwhile trailed the state average at 56%.
Statewide, about 4.5 million voters cast ballots, or about 62% of the state's active registered voters, a new record for a mid-term election. In Clinton County, 71% of voters cast ballots, compared to 67% in Eaton County and 56% in Ingham County, according to unofficial election results from county clerks.
State ballot proposals, including Proposal 3 focused on a woman's right to choose, and high-profile statewide and local races helped drive turnout.
DeWitt Township resident Susan Bartold showed up Tuesday evening at DeWitt Middle School to vote against Michigan's constitutional amendments.
She said that she was “flabbergasted” when reading the language of the three proposals.
“I thought I had read the full thing but changed my mind when I saw that because there's a whole bunch of other stuff in the proposals that I wasn't aware of,” she said Tuesday.
All three proposals passed.
Clinton County's 71% turnout was not a record. In the 2020 presidential election, 77% of voters cast ballots, although Tuesday's turnout was higher than the 2018 mid-term election when about 65% of voters turned out.
Eaton County, which was carried by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Tuesday when she won her second term, also didn't set a record. In the 2020 presidential election, about 74% of voters turned out, although Tuesday's participation was higher than the 2018 mid-term turnout of 64%.
Clinton County Clerk Debra Sutherland and Eaton County Deputy Elections Specialist Kimberly Morris could not be reached for comment.
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Ingham County's 56% turnout was down sharply from the last two major elections. About 68% of voters in Ingham voted in the 2020 election that propelled Joe Biden to the presidency, and 60% voted four years ago in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
According to Ingham County election results, the percentage of registered voters in the county who cast absentee ballots nearly mirrored the percentage who voted in person. Of the county's 215,271 registered voters, 59,406 used absentee ballots and 60,412 voted in person.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said people opting to vote in person could signal a shift in how people vote post-2020. For Tuesday, campaigns encouraged unregistered voters to take advantage of same-day registration, which happened at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. Voters were in line at MSU past midnight, despite polls being scheduled to close at 8 p.m.
"Maybe this is back to normal post-pandemic choices where people vote in person," Byrum said.
That was the case in Clinton County, where 34,231 ballots cast were cast in person, compared to 7,275 absentee ballots.
Byrum said she's optimistic about future elections as Michigan State University students packed Brody Hall Tuesday night.
"Gen Z is going to be a force to reckon with and I'm very optimistic about this, Jen (Shuster) did a great job with the rotating satellites and meeting voters where they are," Byrum said about the East Lansing city clerk.
Reporter Sheldon Krause contributed.
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Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at (517) 267-1344 or knurse@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @KrystalRNurse.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Voter turnout high, especially in Clinton County
