Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson visits Park early voting site

GROSSE POINTE PARK — As Grosse Pointe Park and cities across Michigan prepared to open early voting sites Feb. 17 for the Feb. 27 presidential primary, the state’s top election official visited the Park to see those preparations in person.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson dropped by Park City Hall Feb. 15 to address the start of the state’s first foray into early voting. She was joined by multiple local and Wayne County officials, including members of the Grosse Pointe Park City Council and Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett’s office.

“Local clerks all around the state are gearing up for what is going to be a historic presidential election season,” Benson said. “We want voters to know that they have every reason to have rightly placed faith in the security of the process … and in the fact that when they cast their vote — whether they choose to vote from home or in person … at an early voting site or on Election Day — their vote will count and their voice will be heard.”

Benson said Michigan had already seen more than 1.3 million people request absentee ballots, which she said was an 80% increase over where the state was at this time in 2020.

“So even though you could argue there is not as much of a contest in front of voters in this election as there was in 2020, it’s really encouraging to see voters as engaged and enthusiastic as they are,” Benson said. “We hope that engagement and enthusiasm will be reflected in voter participation in Grosse Pointe Park and everywhere else.”

State, county and local officials wanted to assure voters that the safety and sanctity of the electoral process was a top priority for everyone.

Wayne County Sheriff Rafael Washington said that since the “unprecedented expansion” of mailed ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic, “Mail voting has become safer, more secure and an extremely reliable method of voting.”

Ballot drop boxes in Wayne County have been placed in safe, well-lit public locations such as libraries and fire stations, have video surveillance cameras to capture any tampering attempts that might occur, and cannot be accessed by anyone other than designated election officials, Washington said.

Park City Clerk Bridgette Bowdler, who started her current position in October, thanked her fellow clerks in the Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods, along with city administrators and elected officials, and election officials at the county and state levels for their assistance and support.

“Together we are making a difference for our community and our democracy,” Bowdler said.

Wayne County Director of Elections Greg Marhar — who was on hand in place of Garrett, who was sick — commended Bowdler and the Park for securing an early voting site and trained election workers to staff it.

“I will say, on behalf of Clerk Garrett, she is so proud of all of the local clerks in Wayne County,” Marhar said. “You don’t really know how much hard work and dedication is put into elections until you do it. … Once again, the clerks in Wayne County have outdone themselves. They were faced with a myriad of changes in law and technology and how to obtain early voting sites and additional inspectors for nine days. But you know what? They hit the ground running and, as always, they attained what needed to be attained.”

Grosse Pointe Park Mayor Michele Hodges echoed praise for Bowdler, who recently acquired new election equipment for the city using state grant funding.

“There’s nothing more important than having integrity in our elections and excellence in every way,” Hodges said. “Hopefully you can see that that’s not just words — we don’t just believe in words, we believe in action. With the addition of Clerk Bowdler to our team, we’ve been able to deliver on that with our early voting resources, with cleaning up our voter lists, with the polling locations and making sure they run smoothly.”

Early voting sites in the Pointes and Harper Woods are open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 17 to 25 at the following locations (voters need to go to the early voting site in their city): Grosse Pointe City Council chambers, inside the City Municipal Court building at 17145 Maumee Ave.; Grosse Pointe Farms City Council chambers, inside Farms City Hall at 90 Kerby Road; Grosse Pointe Shores City Hall, 795 Lake Shore Road; Grosse Pointe Park City Hall, 15115 E. Jefferson Ave.; Grosse Pointe Woods Community Center, part of the Woods City Hall complex at 20025 Mack Plaza Drive; and Harper Woods City Hall, 19617 Harper Ave.

Residents of all five Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods can see if they’re registered to vote by visiting mi.gov/vote.