OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County is set to launch a new unofficial election results website ahead of the May election.
A part of the county's push for "continuous improvement" in its elections, the new website will allow users to interact with the results through a series of charts and graphs.
A map feature will also let voters view results in specific precincts, so they can focus on a candidate's performance in their hometown.
"I always say that accuracy is more important than timeliness," said Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck. "But timeliness is really an important aspect of our customer service and building trust and confidence in the election process."
For ease of access, users can also favorite certain races, so they don't have to scroll through hundreds of other results to find them.
Downloadable reports will be available, too.
"I might not be the only election nerd in Ottawa County who likes that kind of stuff," Roebuck said. "We want to make sure we've got a good, transparent reporting process."
In August 2024, Ottawa County's current unofficial election results website crashed shortly after polls closed on Tuesday night. Thousands of visitors had generated more than 100,000 hits, trying to view a number of hotly-contested primary races for county commission.
"That obviously overtaxed the website," Roebuck said, adding that the county was already shopping for new software at the time. "This [new website] is a great step forward in continuously improving that process."
The new website, capable of handling large amounts of traffic, comes courtesy of a four-year contract ($9,000 per year) with SOE Software, with an option for a three-year renewal at the same rate.
Roebuck says it will go online in the lead-up to the May election, as data from previous elections is currently being uploaded to the site.
The voting and vote tabulating processes in Ottawa County will stay the same.
"Our elections are accurate, they're fair, and we are doing the very best we can for our voters," Roebuck said.
