Perhaps the clearest indication of the resiliency of American democracy is the reliable continuity of American elections.
"While nothing grabs headlines quite the way a presidential election does, the decisions made at the community level by local elected officials have arguably the biggest impact on our day-to-day lives," said Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Brown. "2020 saw record-breaking voter turnout and interest, but in 2021 some voters will have important choices about candidates for local office in cities and library boards, as well as important local tax and bonding proposals, among other things."
Brown, who as county clerk serves as the election administrator for Oakland County, says preparations are well underway for elections in 2021, the next of which will be on May 4, 2021 in the Village of Franklin, Northville Public Schools, the School District of the City of Oak Park, and the West Bloomfield School District. Complete text of the proposals can be found at the "May Election" tab at www.oakgov.com/clerkrod/elections The clerk's website also has a link allowing citizens to register to vote on-line.
In addition to voting in local precincts on Election Day, voters in communities with May elections can apply to receive an absentee ballot by mail by contacting their city or township clerk or by visiting www.michigan.gov/vote where they can verify registration status, find their polling location and local clerk's office, or request an absentee ballot. Every voter must complete and sign an application to vote before receiving an official ballot, whether voting an absentee ballot or at a polling location on Election Day.
In addition to preparations for upcoming elections, Brown and the Elections Division have spent the early months of 2021 completing two audits and a review of the processes and results of the November 2020 election. Michigan election law mandates several steps designed to ensure the integrity of elections and provide additional oversight to make sure the will of the voters is accurately reflected.
Following the canvass and certification of the election results by the Board of County Canvassers, the Oakland County Elections Division conducted a procedural audit to verify that legally required processes were followed by local city and township clerks. These include providing for proof of partisan balance and sufficient training of election workers, documented testing of election equipment, and tamper-proof sealing of ballot containers, among other things. While the Proposition 18-3 amendment to the state constitution required an audit of statewide elections, post-election procedural audits have been regular practice in Oakland County since 2013.
Additionally, 1,247 randomly selected ballots from Oakland County were examined as a part of the "risk limiting audit" statewide exercise conducted in February to further verify the accuracy of voting equipment. In all instances, the accuracy, security and integrity of the November 2020 election was reaffirmed.
"My team works closely with local city and township clerks and their staffs as well as with the Secretary of State's Bureau of Elections to make sure that Michigan's election laws are followed and that every vote is properly counted," said Brown. "The 2020 elections were undoubtedly challenging for clerks and election professionals but even in the face of the global pandemic and record-breaking voter turnout, we saw heightened levels of cooperation and coordination to ensure a process everyone can have faith in."
That coordination was on display at the Oakland County Absentee Ballot Counting Boards administered by the county clerk for the first time in 2020. Allowed by a change in state law, Brown's Election Division, headed by Director of Elections Joe Rozell, meticulously counted 144,118 absentee ballots on behalf of 16 Oakland County communities, an effort requiring the training and coordination of over 300 election inspectors.
"Our consolidated absentee ballot counting board is another example of cooperation and coordination between the county and our local communities," said Brown "It was a massive undertaking, but we successfully and efficiently delivered accurate and timely results. A lot of lessons were learned, as it was our first experience running an operation of that scale, and we are now even better prepared for elections in 2021 and beyond."
So successful, in fact, that all 16 local communities have requested Brown and the county election team reprise the role in 2021 and beyond.
