OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Saturday marks the first day of early voting in West Michigan, and at the Georgetown Charter Township Office, the lines were much longer than anticipated.
Between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., at just the Georgetown Charter Township Office, 808 people showed up to cast their vote.
“I thought maybe I would beat the crowd, but I came to a very long line instead,” Michele Norton said.
Saturday, the four Ottawa County early voting locations totaled 2,761 votes; this nearly matches the grand total of early voting for the August 6 Primary Election, which came out to 2,862 votes.
“I’m just happy that we have the option to do it, and I felt compelled more than ever to come out and vote early,” Lisa Nash said.
Justin Roebuck, Ottawa County Clerk, said he wasn't expecting such a major turnout.
“I think it's a really gratifying thing to be able to see people want to participate at this level," Roebuck said. "Our whole team has worked very hard, very diligently on the early voting process, and it's just great to see the participation.”
Early voting is relatively new, just starting this year. According to Roebuck, there was about a 1% turnout for early voting for the Primary in February, and a 2% turnout for the August State Primary Election. Yet, to elect our new president, Roebuck said there was a consistent line of early voters all day long.
“Look at this turn out! We had a great first day of Early Voting. We are only 101 voters away from beating our overall turn out from August,” Roebuck shared on social media.
Look at this turn out! We had a great first day of Early Voting. We are only 101 voters away from beating our overall turn out from August.
— OttawaCoElections (@OttawaElections) October 26, 2024
Early Voting is available until November 3. For more information on locations and times head over to https://t.co/c5b8joU65g pic.twitter.com/3jzsR5P4Hz
Ottawa County wasn’t the only West Michigan county to see a large turnout.
“Today 12,081 Kent County voters turned out for the first day of early voting in the November general election, nearly tripling in one day the number of voters who cast their ballots during the entire nine-day early voting period in the August Primary Election,” Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons said.
Posthumus added that she is impressed by how the local clerks handled the turnout.
She did explain that there was “a paper jam” with one tabulator at a City of Grand Rapids location.
“...which required that tabulator to be serviced, so for a brief time, voters inserted their ballots into the secure auxiliary bin," Posthumus said. "This is not out of the ordinary, and we never want these minor issues to delay the voting process and inconvenience voters, so our tabulators are equipped with these bins to allow them to continue casting their ballots in a secure manner.”
The Kent County clerk said only an election can access the auxiliary bin.
“After a tabulator is serviced, ballots cast into the auxiliary bin are then placed into the tabulator by two election workers: one Republican and one Democrat,” Posthumus said.
Muskegon County's Clerk told FOX 17 day one early voting turnout was "simply amazing" with 1,103 votes cast today. We're told more than 100 people were lined up ahead of doors opening Saturday.
Early voting runs through Nov. 3. You can find more information on how to find a polling place here.
For additional information on early voting in your county, click here.
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