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Michigan voters make their voices heard on last day of early in-person voting

Grand Rapids has seen more than 20,000 people come out to the polls to vote early over the last nine days.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With less than 48 hours before Election Day, voters in Michigan headed to the polls to take advantage of the last day of early voting on Sunday.

The polls at GRPS University were filled with voters as they took advantage of the last day of early voting before Election Day.

“Well, it's really important, I mean, to get out, be able to get out and vote, first of all. It just, it's really convenient, because Tuesday is going to be, I'm sure it's going to be really busy,” said Grand Rapids resident Mark Kubik.

Kubik said he wanted to participate in early voting to avoid the long lines on Tuesday.

“I was looking at my week going, wow, I've got a lot to do on Tuesday, and I need to make sure I vote, so I wanted to get it done," he said. "You know, we live in a great country that, you know, a lot of places around the world, people are dying, you know, fighting to get in here, and they want to be in this country, so let's not take it for granted what we have in this ability, and make sure we do our civil duty.” 

Early voting in Michigan began statewide on Oct. 26. State data shows that more than 1 million people have voted early in person as of Sunday morning. 

Grand Rapids City Clerk Joel Hondorp said the city has seen more than 20,000 people come out to the polls to vote early over the last nine days.

“If you add that to the 30,000 of the absentees that have already been returned, that's 50,000 so we're probably over 33% of the turnout before we even hit Election Day,” said Hondorp.

The Grand Rapids Proactive Project partnered with Thredz.org to hold an early voting bash party with free food and music outside the GRPS University polling location on Sunday to encourage people to vote. 

Marria McIntosh from Thredz.org said no matter what side of the aisle you’re on this upcoming election, it’s important that you vote.

“It's definitely important for Black and Brown people within our marginalized communities to come out and vote, because oftentimes we are the communities that are the most unrepresented, and we feel as if we're not, no one's listening to us, we have polarization, and we have a lot of lack of trust in government and leadership," she said. "So we want to make sure that people know that their vote counts and that their voices matter.” 

Sunday was the last day of early voting in Michigan, but you can still vote at the polls on Election Day which is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Find everything you need to know at our voter guide here.

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