Politics & Government

UPDATE: Brighton Turns Out for Michigan Primary Election

The polls will be open until 8 p.m. Tuesday night.

Brighton Township Precinct 5: 6 p.m.

As of 6 p.m., Brighton Township precinct 5, located at the , reported 98 voters.

Poll worker Irene Besancon said that precinct 5 has a lot of absentee ballots since the area includes many older residents.

Find out what's happening in Brightonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Roxanne Garber, another poll worker, said she believes voting to be an interesting process.

"It's important to get young people involved in this part of the process," Garber said about working the polls. "It's technologically challenging for the older generation. It would behoove the younger generation to get on board."

Find out what's happening in Brightonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Brighton Township Precinct 1: 5:25 p.m.

Brighton Township Clerk Ann Bollin said she was disappointed in the voter turnout so far on election day.

As of 5:25 p.m., precinct 1, located at , reported 215 voters so far.

Bollin said that she believed that the Township would see only about a 17 to 18 percent turnout last week.

Bollin believes that the closed ballot may be what is keeping voters away because they are not used to it.

Township resident Cristina Wilson said this was her first time voting in a primary election. She said she came out to vote for her guy, Ron Paul.

"He's very consistent and what he wants to do with the country is better than what the other guys want to do," Wilson said. "He gives a consistent answer, instead of always wishy-washy, back and forth or just saying what the people want to hear."

Brighton Township Precincts 3 and 8: 5 p.m.

Brighton Township voting precincts 3 and 8, located at the , have been neck and neck in the number of voters all day according to poll workers.

As of 5 p.m., both precincts each had 163 voters turn out for the election.

Brighton Township resident Jessie Ridgway said she voted for Mitt Romney.

"I know more about Romney than the other candidates," Ridgway said. "And he's a business man so I think he will know how to run the country better."

Ridgway said she doesn't necessarily think of Romney as a Michigan man, but as a business man.

"If I didn't like him, I wouldn't vote for him," she said.

Another Brighton Township voter, who wished to be known only by Mark, said he voted for GOP Candidate Rick Santorum because he liked his viewpoints better than the other candidates. He also joked that he received the least amount of aggravating calls from Santorum's campaign this week.

City of Brighton Precincts 3 and 4: 8 a.m.

The City of Brighton voting precincts 3 and 4, located at the (BECC), were slowly gaining momentum this morning.

Brighton resident Pat Spragut sat behind the table in the gym, checking voters in. Spragut said she has been working the polls since 1964.

"I love the people," she said about why she works elections. "I like to get out and keep up-to-date on issues. But mostly, it's to socialize."

At a little after 8 a.m., precinct 3 had 21 voters, while precinct 4 had 16.

Brighton resident Thomas Somerville and his wife Faye were voters 15 and 16 in precinct 4. Somerville joked that his neighborhood was still asleep.

"It's important," Faye said about voting. "We miss a few school millages or summer things every once in a while, but for the most part we vote in every election. We have the ability to voice our opinion."

Somerville said voting is what the country is all about.

While the Somervilles were exercising their right to vote, Howell resident Mike Bennett was outside the BECC building passing out information about special elections and House Bill 5219 - whcih would require voting for new property tax millage increases to only occur in November of even-numbered years during the general election.

Bennett is a member of RetakeOurGov, a Tea Party group located in Hartland. He said

"Around here, school boards hold off-year (non general elections), to get their ballots passed easier because of the low voter turnout," Bennett said. "And if it's not passed right away, they turn around and hold another one and wear people down. It's disingenuous to have votes pushed in."

Bennett used Brighton Area Schools' recent approval to hold for an $88 million bond issue.

"It's just one of many examples," he said. "Hartland just slipped one through. So did Howell with what I call a 'Weasel Clause.' The school board can now up the taxes in Howell by one mill without a vote.

"It doesn't matter how people vote, as long as it's with an informed decision," Bennett said.


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