Lenawee County's early-voting site opens for primary election

ADRIAN — When I was little, my mom would take me with her when she voted. I remember going to the polling place in a school building and into the voting booth that had a curtain for privacy.

The first time I voted, I was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Michigan. My absentee ballot came in the mail. It was the punch-card style, and I punched out the chads in my East Quad dorm room. The city clerk’s office had included a thin piece of foam board to make punching out the chads easier.

Voting is something I’ve taken seriously my entire adult life. I like taking part in the democratic process. I’ve stood in long lines to vote in presidential elections and been in and out of a polling place when a routine millage renewal was the only thing on the ballot. I’ve voted absentee a few times, but usually I vote in person.

Voting in person, however, is not always convenient. Recognizing that, early voting was part of the voting reforms that was put in a statewide proposal in 2022, and the proposal passed. The presidential primary in February was the first election when early voting was used. I did the regular day-of voting that time, but I figured I would give early voting a try this time.

The nine-day early voting period opened this past Saturday and runs through this Sunday, Aug. 4. In Lenawee County, every jurisdiction except for Fairfield Township decided to share a central voting site at the Human Services Building at 1040 S. Winter St. in Adrian. The hours for voting at the Human Services Building are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including weekends.

Fairfield Township’s early voting also runs through Aug. 4. The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at the township office, 1023 Pine St. in Jasper.

Concerns about funding and staffing led most of the jurisdictions to combine forces on the central early voting site, Lenawee County Clerk Roxann Holloway said in January. The ability to share costs saves taxpayers money, and working together ensures having adequate staffing for all nine days required by state law.

Last Friday, I went to the early voting site to take pictures and shoot some video to go with this article, since taking photos and video is limited once voting starts. When I returned Saturday afternoon to actually vote, I didn’t need the directions to the voting room that the guard at the entrance gave.

Should you decide to take advantage of early voting, here’s what to expect:

First, park in the main lot at the front of the building, as if you’re going to the Secretary of State office. Once inside the doors, a guard should direct you down the hallway straight ahead and then turn to the left down the hallway that goes to the Social Security office. There are signs directing voters where to go.

Voters with mobility concerns will be directed to immediately turn left and go in the door to the River Raisin Room. Michelle Bates, Lenawee County’s election coordinator, said this was done because of space limitations in the hallway to the Social Security office.

For experienced voters, the next couple of steps will be familiar.

“All early-voting sites were supposed to be set up like a polling site” on Election Day, Bates said.

There’s a station where voters fill out the voter application and give it and a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, to the election inspectors who verify the information and use the electronic pollbook to record that they’ve voted. It also checks the state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) to see whether the person is a registered voter and if they’ve already voted in this election. Once that is OK’d, the voter’s home voting precinct is recorded on the application, and the voter can proceed to the next station.

If someone isn’t registered, they’re given information about registering at their city or township clerk’s office. People cannot register to vote at the early voting site.

Next is where things are different from regular, in-person voting. Instead of having a stack of preprinted ballots, a fresh ballot is printed for each voter based off their jurisdiction information in the e-pollbook. This took about a minute on Saturday.

Once the ballot is printed, it is placed in a secrecy sleeve and handed to the voter, who is directed to the voting booths and told which of the four tabulators to use. The townships and cities are divided between the four tabulators.

Along with the voting booths where voters use a marker to fill in the ovals on the ballot, there are two voter assistance terminals, each with a large touchscreen, like a tablet computer. These are designed for voters with disabilities — vision-impaired voters can be assisted with an audio feature, and a sip-and-puff device helps people who have difficulty using their hands — but can be used by anyone.

“We have a lot of younger voters who prefer to use it,” Bates said.

The voter assistance terminals do not cast votes. Instead, they fill out and print a completed paper ballot. Bates said they call it a “giant marker.” It also prevents voters from crossing over between parties, which is not allowed in a primary election.

There also is a voting booth where a voter can sit down to vote.

Once the voter fills out their ballot, they go to the correct tabulator for their jurisdiction. An election inspector will be nearby in case there are any issues. The tabulator will beep if it detects crossover votes, undervotes or overvotes. It’s OK to undervote — maybe a voter intentionally skips an office or proposal — but the others are problems that should be corrected by spoiling the ballot and starting over with a new one.

After casting their ballot, the voter can take an “I voted early” sticker and get on with the rest of their day.

There are safeguards against anyone voting early and then trying to vote again, either by absentee ballot or in-person on Election Day. The QVF immediately records when someone votes, so if someone tries to vote later, either in person or absentee, the election inspector or clerk would know the person has already voted. There’s also a 24-hour delay in processing absentee ballots to catch anyone who tries to vote twice.

People who have received an absentee ballot can convert to early voting, Bates said. Or a voter can fill out their absent ballot at home and cast it in a tabulator at the early site. However, they can’t just drop their ballot off at the early-voting site. If they just want to drop it off, they have to use their jurisdiction’s drop box.

At the end of each day of early voting, the cast ballots are secured in a sealed container, which is recorded in the poll book. The next day, the poll workers start with a new container. They’ll end up with nine sealed containers.

The vote totals are not calculated until Election Night. The tabulators at the early-voting site will be packed up and taken back to the county clerk’s office. The votes from them will be counted on Election Night.

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Establishing the early-voting site has been a new experience for the county clerk’s staff. Usually, Bates said, they’re at their office on Election Day, ready to help solve any problems that come up at the precincts.

“We’re not usually on this side, setting up polling sites,” Bates said.

They’ve been assisted by a "great group of election inspectors” from across the county, Bates said. Many of them will work at the early-voting site, then work Election Day at their home jurisdictions. Most of the early-voting inspectors have signed up to work all nine days.

“We wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” Bates said.

“Their knowledge and experience has helped us,” Holloway said.

“They’ve been on the floor and know what to expect and things we hadn’t thought of,” Bates said. “…We went into this with the attitude that we were going to learn from everyone.”

Some other things to keep in mind when voting in-person, whether early or on Election Day:

• No selfies. It’s OK to take a photo of your own completed ballot, but selfies are not OK because you might inadvertently show part of someone else’s ballot. Other voters might not want to be in your selfie at all.

• No campaigning within 100 feet of the polling place. While this obviously means no actively advocating for a candidate or proposal, it also means no clothing or other campaign regalia, like buttons or stickers, is allowed. Even candidates can’t stick around after casting their ballot, Holloway said. This rule only applies to candidates and proposals on the ballot being voted.

So, if you’re like me and won’t be able to vote in person on Aug. 6, go ahead and give early voting a try if that schedule works for you. Or vote early if you think there will be a line to vote in person on Election Day. If you can’t make it to vote in person at all, get an absentee ballot. But whatever you do, vote. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian .

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County's early-voting site opens for primary election