August 6 Primary: Vote Early or On Time
A mini voter guide to this local election
Early voting has begun! And it’s at Frankfort City Hall instead of the Community Building this time.
A consolidated local early-voting venue for a few of our small districts to early-vote together came under discussion after the first state-mandated 9-day session of early voting, during this year’s presidential primary, which required three election workers to sit in the Community Building every day and literally watch the paint peel off the walls, waiting for the very few people who took advantage of this opportunity. Time was not only wasted, but our wall clock was broken! (It’s OK, Dave Bissell, we’re over it, it’s fine.) The fiscally conscious among us also voiced concern over the cost (to the state, not locals) of fielding many small early voting teams.
What and Who Are on the Ballot in Elberta/Gilmore for the August 6 Election
Study up on the ballot here, and check out the information our current County Commissioner Gary Sauer handed out at the July Council meeting concerning two of the millages:
(Is Administation a new bureaucracy-themed brewery?)
In addition to the operations and jail millages, we also have a vote on a tiny increase to Fire & Safety millage, a 1 mill increase for the Benzie Bus, and a 1 mill increase for the Commission on Aging.
Going in order from less to more local, we have a Senate primary to replace Debbie Stabenow, Michigan’s first female U.S. Senator, who is not running, in November. You have two Democrats, Elissa Slotkin and Hill Harper, to choose from, or four Republicans: Justin Amash, Sherry O'Donnell, Sandy Pensler (who recently dropped out!), and Mike Rogers.
For our 1st District representative to Congress, a seat now held by Jack Bergman, we have: Democrats Callie Bar and Bob Lorinser, and Republicans Jack Bergman and Josh Saul.
And for 104th District state rep, a position that has been held by Republicans since the district was created, in 1965, and which is currently manned by John Roth, we have one Democrat, Larry Knight, and two Republicans, John Roth and Owen J. Suhy.
Democrat Write-In Candidate for County Commission
Gary Sauer (R) is running for re-election to represent us in our 7th district (Blaine, Gilmore, Joyfield, and Weldon) on the County Commission. You don’t see a rival candidate on that e-ballot for the Democratic side, but there is in fact a write-in candidate for that seat, Javed Shah, a young (thirtiesish) tech-savvy Democrat in Thompsonville:
A Possible New Gilmore Township Trustee!
And Elberta’s own Dan Carter is running as a Republican to be a fresh face in the Gilmore Township board race. You may know Dan as the lead instigator of Jammin’ Mondays.
Am I Registered to Vote?
Just for fun, because OBVIOUSLY I am registered to vote (right? I mean… uh-oh, am I?), I looked it up on the National Association of Secretaries of State website. From there I was directed to the Michigan Department of State voter registration page, filled in my info, and found out that yes, I can vote and even what’s on the ballot! If you’re not registered, you can do that up until 8 p.m. on Election Day itself, as long as you have the required documentation with you. In other words, if you really like excitement, you can roll in to the polls at 7:55 or so, register with our election workers, and then vote. In our tiny area, this might actually be possible. Personally, those aren’t the thrills I seek. To be safe, since we’re inside 14 days before the election, contact Gilmore Clerk Dave Bissell at gilmoretwp_clerk@yahoo.com to register, or show up at early voting at Frankfort City Hall and see if they can register you there.