OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — There isn't something on the ballot in every community, but smaller elections like those on May 2 often can impact our lives the most.
These off-year elections often are limited primarily to ballot proposals, millages and the like, and often see less turnout than compared to presidential and midterm elections. One top West Michigan elections official, however, spoke to how he believes these elections are just as important.
We've been tracking some of these important and even contentious proposals and millages.
From a school bond proposal for Grand Haven Area Public Schools mired in potential misinformation to what officials in the City of Wyoming have said is a desperately needed public safety millage, these kinds of votes directly impact communities through things from funding to local departments to how much residents pay in taxes.
Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck said those kinds of issues make it just as important to vote in these elections as it is to vote in more high-profile contests.
"Our smaller local elections are really where a lot of key issues are decided, you know, when it comes to your the taxes you pay to your schools, what's going on in our schools, other community issues, such as millages and bonds," Roebuck said. "These are really important issues that affect us and our families. So, it's important to make your voice heard in the smaller elections."
Given concerns over election security in recent years, Roebuck also laid out new procedures Ottawa is using in which results are physically delivered on encrypted flash drives by staff to the clerk's office and are GPS tracked to make sure results are secure and accounted for at all times.
"We're moving away from the electronic transmission of our unofficial results," Roebuck said. "We're actually sending deputized staff into the field to collect the results data, which is contained on an encrypted flash drive. That flash drive is sealed up by our bipartisan team, and then brought to us under seal. But we're also using GPS technology to track those sealed containers as they come into our office."
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