HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Voters in many areas in Michigan went to the polls on Tuesday (May 4, 2021) for the first time since last November’s fateful General Election, but will the spring election window stay open?
Although there were more absentee ballots submitted that in past First Tuesday in May official canvassing, voter turnout was still below 20 percent for the most part, which is in keeping with most other spring elections. There is legislation being considered in Lansing that would consolidate the May and August election windows to a single June election window, beginning in 2023, in an effort to get more voter participation, according to the bill’s supporters. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson would support such a change.
“I always look at things as what do voters want, and what’s best to insure (that) people can vote,” she said in a Tuesday appearance outside of the Holland City Hall. “Often times, consolidating low-turnout elections will become higher turnout elections, and any time we have more people weighing in on issues that affect them, that’s a good thing for democracy.”
Some educational leaders are balking at the proposal, saying that essential funding measures that could be turned down in a June election would leave them scrambling to finance a new school year that begins on the first of July.
