City clerk begins ‘Let’s Vote’ info campaign

STERLING HEIGHTS — With the presidential primary races around the corner and more elections to come later this year, the Sterling Heights City Clerk’s Office is wasting no time in informing residents of their options for how to cast their ballots.

During a Jan. 16 City Council meeting, City Clerk Melanie Ryska gave a brief presentation on the different ways that residents can vote. She also shared some updates on changes to election laws that happened after voters passed Michigan Proposal 2 in November 2022.

“This was the constitutional amendments to your voting rights, and it was advertised as ‘promote the vote,’” Ryska said. “And you can see it overwhelmingly got approved, by, like, 60 to 40 (percent).”

Ryska announced a citywide “Let’s Vote!” education campaign that will employ mail, social media, the city magazine, a video series and events to inform residents.

For instance, the city’s mailer will brief residents on early voting, voting by mail, election day voting and upcoming election dates. In addition, Ryska’s office was scheduled to give a longer presentation on voting at the Sterling Heights Community Center Jan. 18, after press deadline.

“So because we have all of these overwhelming changes, it’s hard for voters to kind of comprehend or grasp all of the different options that you have now,” Ryska said. “We, as election administrators, deal with this on a daily basis, and there’s still so many changes. We’re still trying to grasp all the changes.”

The closest upcoming election day is for the presidential primary races Feb. 27.

Under the new elections system, early voting takes place over nine days before an election, including weekends, Ryska said. She said early voting will take place at the city’s Election Center, located at the side entrance of the Community Center, 40250 Dodge Park Road, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 17-25. She added that early voters can now place their ballot “directly into a tabulator rather than just in an envelope to be counted on election day.”

Another recent change to election law, the clerk explained, allows residents to fill out an application to be put on a “permanent ballot” list, which means they can automatically get an absentee ballot before every election. That ballot can be used for early voting, election day voting, or for mail-in or drop box voting, according to the Clerk’s Office.

The permanent ballot option is separate from another existing option, the “application ballot,” in which a voter on a permanent application list gets an application prior to every election cycle, Ryska explained.

“And then you can tell us what address you want your ballot sent to, and we’ll mail you a ballot,” she said. “It’s still a popular option for individuals who are frequent travelers, because the United States Postal Service does not forward ballots.”

After the presentation, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor praised the Clerk’s Office staff for their work.

“I think that we are blessed to have incredibly professionally well-run elections in the city of Sterling Heights, and I know that residents are thankful for the clerk that we have, the team that we have,” the mayor said. “They work incredibly hard, and it’s going to be a long year, but we’ll all get through it, right?”

Learn more about elections and voting in Sterling Heights by visiting sterlingheights.gov/vote or by calling (586) 446-2420.