Detroit clerk expects absentee voting to overtake in-person for Aug. 3 primary

Detroit — City Clerk Janice Winfrey anticipates a 13% to 18% turnout for the city's municipal primary, with twice as many absentee ballots cast than four years ago. 

The clerk, who is seeking her fifth, four-year term, said Monday that she attributes the increase in absentee voting to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Her office has had more than 56,000 applications returned for absentee ballots for the Aug. 3 primary.

Detroit's Department of Elections expects a voter turnout of around 60,000 to 95,000 residents out of Detroit's 499,000 registered voters overall. The projections are in line with the 14% turnout Detroit saw in its 2017 municipal primary. But in that race, about 27,000 Detroit voters cast absentee ballots and 37,000 voted at precincts, Winfrey said.

This election, Winfrey added, Detroit is seeing a continuation of a trend established last year during the presidential race and pandemic. She predicts the election's department will count nearly 50,000 absentee ballots, twice as many than in August 2017.

"More people are voting by absentee than those who cast ballots at the precinct," Winfrey said during a Monday morning press conference at her offices on West Grand Boulevard. "This election, we focused on balancing (counting boards and precincts)."

The clerk's office is expecting about 15,000 to 35,000 voters will show up at the city's 503 precincts on Tuesday.

Election result reporting will commence at 8 p.m. after the polls close. Precinct and absentee ballots will be counted simultaneously, Winfrey said, noting final tabulations should be in around 11 p.m.

There are more than 4,000 trained poll workers for this municipal primary, "to ensure that every vote is counted," Winfrey added. 

Detroit has 14 satellite absentee voting centers and 20 drop boxes.

Approximately 1,500 ballots have been issued at satellite locations, averaging 107 ballots per day. About 6,000 ballots have been submitted through drop boxes, as of Monday, Winfrey said. 

In the August 2020 presidential primary, recorded ballot counts in 72% of Detroit's absentee voting precincts didn't match the number of ballots cast. When factoring in Election Day results almost half, or 46% of precincts, had voting totals that didn't match precinct poll book numbers — meaning they potentially couldn't be recounted in a close election.

"We have bolstered our training to place a more intimate focus on balancing our counting boards and precincts," Winfrey said Monday. "We've revamped the absentee voting division by segregating it from the first floor in the building to the fourth floor in the department to ensure we balance 120 county boards." 

There are five polling location changes since last November's presidential election, due to building flooding, Winfrey said. Changes include:

• Cross of Glory Lutheran Church voting has been moved to Fischer Magnet Lower School, 15510 E. State Fair.
• Coleman Young Recreation Center voting has been moved to Bunche Preparatory Academy, 2715 Macomb Street.
• People's Community Services on South Leigh Street voting has been moved to Roberto Clemente Academy, 1551 Beard.
• Academy of the Americas (K-3 grade) voting has been moved to the Academy of Americas (4-12 grade) School at 5680 Konkel Street.
• St. Paul AME Zion Church voting has been moved to Durfee Innovation Society at 2470 Collingwood St.
• Flowery Mount Baptist Church has also moved its location across the street to 13616 Linwood.

Polling directors will be at each of the former locations to direct voters to the relocated sites. Those standing in line at an incorrect polling location will be issued identifying cards so they can skip the line at their correct precinct, Winfrey said. 

As of Monday, about 42,000 absentee ballots have been returned. The clerk's office expects another 4,000 to 8,000 absentee ballots to be returned by Election Day.

"We will be very aggressive in terms of balancing the ballots in bundles to make sure that when we're done, our numbers are good for the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and then once ballots are processed, they will be tabulated at high speed," added Daniel Baxter, a consultant for Detroit's elections office who is running absentee tabulations at TCF Center. "We hope to have 90% of all returns for absentee counted by 8 p.m."

Detroit Police Department will also be on-site Tuesday evening in case there are any issues with challengers, Baxter said. 

Last week, Winfrey told a U.S. House panel that she and her election workers had received threats of violence as a result of false claims of a stolen election by former President Donald Trump. 

Trump lost Michigan in November to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points — an outcome bolstered by court rulings, bipartisan boards of canvassers who certified the win, as well as multiple audits.

But Detroit, a Democratic stronghold, has been at the center of unproven claims of fraud since the November election, despite results showing that Trump actually performed better in the majority-Black city in 2020 than he did in 2016.

On the state of voting with integrity, Winfrey said Monday, "The same person who said our elections were faulty, that they lacked integrity, that we cheated, his top official stated this was the most secure election ever held in the history of the United States, so I think that in of itself, and the dozens of lawsuits filed against me and other Michigan officials, we proved frivolous."

Winfrey is set to face five challengers in the August primary including Kinda Anderson, Denzel McCampbell, Michael Ri'chard, Jeffrey Robinson and Beverly Kindle-Walker.

Aside from choosing city clerk, voters will be asked Tuesday to narrow the field of 10 candidates for mayor, five candidates running for two at-large seats on Detroit City Council, and new representatives for a handful of district seats on city council.

Two of the seven races for council district seats lack enough certified candidates to warrant a primary, and in two others, the incumbents are uncontested, automatically advancing to November.

Longtime councilman James Tate faces three challengers for District 1, a newcomer from a pool of six contenders will fill the vacant District 7 seat formerly held by Gabe Leland  who resigned earlier this year after pleading guilty to misconduct in office. He was sentenced to probation in June. Seven contenders are vying to replace District 4 councilman André Spivey, who was charged last week on allegations of accepting bribe payments for votes over several years, federal authorities contend. 

Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield, who represents District 5, and District 3 Councilman Scott Benson are unopposed in the Nov. 2 general election. 

Residents are also being asked to vote on whether to approve permanent changes to the city charter, known as "Proposal P." Here's what's in it.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m. Those who are in line by 8 p.m. will be able to vote.

Real-time results will be updated after 8 p.m. at detroitmi.gov/departments/elections

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_