CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH MARQUETTE CITY CLERK KYLE WHITNEY
Voters registered in the City of Marquette will have the ability to vote early in this November’s election.
Marquette is one of several municipalities statewide working in partnership with Michigan to conduct an early voting pilot program this year.
The rest of the state will participate next year for the 2024 presidential elections.
“The state is kind of working with us on the cutting edge of the new voting procedures,” Marquette City Clerk Kyle Whitney told RRN News. “For us, what that means, is we have to have staff the polling location. So, it will be just like a precinct. So, we have to have workers staffing it, just like an in-person precinct for eight hours a day.”
This time, it’s only for four days, at the Peter White Public Library, which has been selected as the early voting site location for registered voters in the city. In 2024 and beyond, they will have to offer nine days of early-voting prior to Election Day. So, how are they going to pay for all of this?
“It’s a change, and one thing we’re trying to do is look at consolidating and streamlining our elections procedures to try to save money,” Whitney said. “This is definitely going to increase the cost of elections statewide. For 2024, at least, the state legislature has made money available on, essentially, a grant basis. It’s being funneled through the counties to the local municipalities. Indications have been that some of that money is going to be used to offset the cost of staffing, Moving forward, I don’t know that it’s guaranteed, though, that we’ll have that help.”
This November’s Marquette election will feature six people running for three seats on the Marquette City Commission. It will also include four people running for two seats on the Marquette Board of Light & Power.
So, Whitney says that voters will have the option of casting an early ballot in the days leading up to the November 7 election; the early voting site will be open Thursday, November 2 – Sunday, November 5, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Early voting is simply an additional option for voters,” Whitney said. “Absentee balloting procedures remain unchanged, and people who like to do in-person votiing on Election Day can do so like usual.”
More information can be found at www.marquettemi.gov/vote.
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