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A whopping 85.64 percent of Peninsula Township’s registered voters turned out to vote in yesterday’s General Election – 4,854 out of 5,668 registered voters – and Township Clerk Becky Chown says that’s a record turnout.
By comparison, she notes, in the 2016 General Election, 81.99 percent of registered voters voted, and in the 2012 General Election, 80.30 percent of registered voters voted.
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Becky sent along this note earlier today:
On behalf of Peninsula Township, I’d like to extend a giant thank you to Peninsula Township’s firefighters for helping us set up and tear down this election at three different locations (both precincts and the absentee voter counting boards housed at St. Joseph Catholic Church), as well as the 52 elections inspectors who worked all day in the precincts and on our receiving board. Thanks to all of them, we executed a phenomenally successful election in the midst of a pandemic.
We were also wowed to find a box of snacks from the Kindness Kids Club set outside Precinct 1 with a hand-written sign thanking our residents for voting and inviting them to enjoy a snack while they waited. Because we set up fewer voting booths than in past elections in order to maintain six feet between each booth, our lines were frequently long, yet our voters were uniformly patient and cheerful. Thanks, Kindness Kids Club!
(I don’t know if the Kindness Kids Club is affiliated with Old Mission Peninsula School, but I’m guessing it is. What a WONDERFUL club and gesture!)
I also want to thank St. Joseph Catholic Church and First Congregational Church for hosting our elections in March, August, and now November. Talk about the houseguest who wouldn’t leave…
Finally, a heartfelt thanks to Spanglish for providing a delicious lunch free of charge to every single one of our election inspectors. I am very proud to live in Peninsula Township in a community that is so engaged and so committed to our highest democratic ideals.
Who Will Lead the Country for the Next Four Years?
While we still don’t know the winner of the presidential race at this writing (9:45 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2020), according to the Michigan Secretary of State election results website (last updated at 9:37 p.m. on Nov. 4), Democratic candidate Joe Biden currently has 2,117,677 votes (46.99%), while Republican candidate and current President Donald Trump has 2,318,065 votes (51.44%). (Note that some media outlets have called the race for Biden at this point.)
There’s no doubt that this election has more plot twists than an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and we’re still waiting for final results from several states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan (with investigations taking place in Antrim County and Detroit, among other locales), Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia to see who will lead our country for the next four years.
Michigan Races
But let’s take a look at some Michigan races. At this writing, Republican John James (2,311,940 votes; 51.86%) is leading Democratic contender Gary Peters (2,067,948 votes; 46.39%) in the Senate race, according to the Secretary of State website (results of which are changing as I write this).
Meanwhile, the race for the Congressional Representative in the 1st District finds Republican Jack Bergman with 244,954 votes (61.42%) and Democratic contender Dana Ferguson with 147,833 votes (37.07%).
In the 104th District Representative race, Republican John Roth pulled in 30,311 votes (50.93%) and Democratic contender Dan O’Neil drew 28,008 votes (47.06%).
Peninsula Township Results
In Precinct 1, Becky says they counted 1,863 absentee ballots and 561 in-person ballots for a total of 2,424 ballots.
In Precinct 2, they counted 2,019 absentee ballots and 411 in-person ballots for a total of 2,430 ballots.
The grand total for Peninsula Township was 3,882 absentee ballots and 972 in-person ballots – or 4,854 out of 5,668 total registered voters. Let’s dig deeper into the numbers.
Peninsula Township Results, Combined Precincts 1 and 2:
- Straight Party Democratic: Absentee, 844; In-Person, 81; Total 925
- Straight Party Republican: Absentee, 920; In-Person, 355; Total 1275
- Democratic Presidential Joe Biden: Absentee, 2270; In-Person, 268; Total 2538
- Republican Presidential Donald Trump: Absentee, 1519; In-Person, 684; Total 2203
- Democratic Senator Gary Peters: Absentee, 2073; In-Person, 250; Total 2323
- Republican Senator John James: Absentee, 1747; In-Person, 712; Total 2459
- Democratic Rep. in Congress Dana Ferguson: Absentee, 1973; In-Person, 229; Total 2202
- Republican Rep. in Congress Jack Bergman: Absentee, 1803; In-Person, 710; Total 2513
- Democratic Rep. in State Legislature Dan O’Neil: Absentee, 2144; In-Person, 276; Total 2420
- Republican Rep. in State Legislature John Roth: Absentee, 1648; In-Person, 662; Total 2310
Peninsula Township officials voted to serve again include Supervisor Rob Manigold; Clerk Becky Chown; Treasurer Brad Bickle; and Trustees Marge Achorn, Dave Sanger, Warren Wahl and Isaiah Wunsch.
Peninsula Community Library Board members voted in include John Bercini, Lorraine Brickman, Nancy Davy, Brit Eaton, Nikki Sobkowski and Todd Wilson.
Peninsula Township Results – Proposals:
- 20-1 Recreation Proposal (passed in the county): Yes, 3975; No, 564
- 20-2 Digital Search Warrant Proposal (passed in the county): Yes, 4106; No, 461
- 911 Surcharge (passed in the county): Yes, 2956; No, 1564
- Road Millage (passed in the county): Yes, 2584; No, 1942
- TCAPS Millage (passed in the county): Yes, 2951; No, 1541
For more results, visit the election results websites for the Michigan Secretary of State and Grand Traverse County. For more about the candidates and proposals, click here on the Grand Traverse County website.
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