KENT COUNTY, Mich. — In a contentious race, former President Donald Trump will be heading back to the White House after taking home the electoral votes needed to secure a win.
Despite the divisive election season, Kent County reported the lowest voter turnout in a general election in over a decade.
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons said the election process went smoothly, with this being the first general election where early in-person voting was available. According to data, there were 96,706 votes cast during the early voting period—which is about a third of the total voter turnout.
However, having an early voting option didn't impact the overall turnout.
"This is, actually, admittedly, the lowest voter turnout we've had in a presidential election since 2012, but not by much," Posthumus Lyons said.
She said she wasn't able to explain why turnout dropped off this year.
"It's very marginal," she said. "This turnout was 68.8%, 2020 we had a highwater mark at over 72%, and then in 2016 it was 69%. So, kind of real close, particularly 2016 and 2024."
In Sand Lake, voters in Nelson Township had a difficult time tabulating their ballots after humidity caused the ballots to swell. This led to a long wait and some people left without voting.
"It's not uncommon to have minor issues on Election Day when it comes to the tabulators—a paper jam, humidity impacting the ability to have the ballots being fed through, not uncommon," Posthumus Lyons said.
She said there were "just a small handful" of voters who had issues on Tuesday. When tabulators aren't working properly, Posthumus Lyons said the voters' ballots are placed in a secure auxiliary bin. Only election workers have access to the bin, she said, and workers will later feed the ballots through the tabulator once the issues are resolved.
Moving forward, election officials will meet for a post-election canvass to ensure the results are accurate, which Posthumus Lyons called a "thorough, robust process."
Despite lower turnout, Posthumus Lyons said there was a feeling of excitement at the polls on Tuesday.
"It's nice to see what we experienced, which was just a lot of excitement and enthusiasm, it was a great day."