Additional Reporting by Katherine Buzan, Erin Mahaney, Morgan Garmo and Beau Brockett Jr.
UPDATE: Incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Justin Amash beat Democrat Douglas Smith, winning 59.4 percent of the popular vote. They ran for the Third Congressional District.
Incumbent Republican State Congressman John Bizon beat Democrat Jim Haadsma, winning 48.03 percent of the popular vote. They ran for the 62nd District seat.
City council member Garrett Brown beat four other candidates for Albion mayor, winning 45.46 percent of the popular vote. Cheryl Kruase was runner up, winning 37.61 percent of the vote.
Sonya Brown, Marcola Dean Lawler and Jeanette Spicer each won seats for city council, representing Precincts Three, Four and Five, respectively.
For complete election information, including county officials and school board positions, visit Electionmagic.com
National and local elections were on the minds of voters today in Albion. The city’s three polling locations were bustling with activity as voters made their way to cast their ballots. Voters entered polling locations while shaking off the rain from outside that continued on and off throughout the day, and each person left proudly sporting the “I Voted” sticker.
At St. John School on Irwin Road, the voting location for Precincts two and three, cars were lined up for quite some time outside of the small Catholic school. Early in the morning, as one woman left the voting location she said that before even 10 a.m. she was the 130th voter in Precinct three.
Even with the good turnout, the crowd at St. John School was mostly made up of people over 30. Not many millenials came out in the morning to cast their vote. Generation X and Baby Boomers dominated the voter turnout throughout the morning hours.
One voter at St. John School, Toni Dejusus, was very excited to be out and voting, not just about the national elections, but local elections as well. She came with her mother and proudly spoke of her daughter voting earlier that day.
“Well, I came out and voted because you’re supposed to exercise your right, and that’s important,” said Dejusus.
She was excited about the election in general and was looking forward to casting her vote for who she thought was the best candidate.
“The only thing that struck me is where is our future headed,” said Dejusus. “I didn’t want to get caught up in the ‘this way, that way’ things. It’s been really messy with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I just want to see who is going to take our country higher. The country is already great, and we’ve come out of a lot, but we still have work to do.”
For Dejusus, having the right to vote is something that makes America great in her eyes.
“America is a great country, and people flee here for a reason; but they understand what sometimes I feel we take for granted,” she said.
Midday, at Crowell School, the voting location for Precincts one and five, people were rushing to vote during their lunch breaks. Luckily for them, the rain held off during that lunch hour. Many voters there said they came out to vote simply because they felt it was their civic duty. But one community member in particular, Maria Veronica Cordova, took the issue of voting more personally.
“I’m Hispanic, and [voting is] a tradition that has been carried on through my family,” said Cordova. “Many years ago my parents had to pay to vote. Being political has been brought down through the family life through the generations.”
According to Cordova, the most important national issue to her this election cycle was the economy.
“I’ve already seen [economic] strength through President Obama and the continuation [of it],” said Cordova. “I hope we go in the right direction.”
Regardless of who wins the election Cordova says that Americans “have got to stick together” after the election results come in.
Other than national issues, Albion has several local candidates on the ballot. The city is voting for a new mayor, sheriff, city council members and more. These issues, on top of national issues, are just as impactful for the citizens of the city.
This piece will be updated with election results.
Photo via Project Inspired
Leave a Reply