City Clerk Says Voter Traffic Slow, 81 Percent of Absentee Ballots Returned

Birmingham's primary election was running smoothly Tuesday afternoon.

Smoothly — but slowly.

According to Deputy Doreen Martin, traffic to Birmingham's nine precincts was slow but steady on Tuesday. However, considering it's a primary ballot with no local issues, that's to be expected.

"(Turnout) has been pretty average," Martin said.

During the February presidential primary, , the exact same percentage that turned out during last November's general election, when four city commission and two school board spots — not to mention a school millage — was on the ballot.

As of 3:30 p.m., Martin said 81 percent of the city's absentee ballots had been turned in — 1,593 of the 1,962 the clerk's office mailed out. Voters have until 5 p.m. today to return their absentee ballots to .

The number of absentee ballots returned is already higher than those mailed out during the presidential primary. During the February primary, 1,495 absentee ballots were cast — nearly a third of the total votes cast.

As it stood Tuesday, Martin said everything couldn't be running any more smoothly. reported problems with the split ballots, though Martin said Birmingham election inspectors hadn't run into too many issues so far.

For the majority of ballot items, voters can only vote for either all Republican or all Democrat candidates. Voting for candidates in both parties automatically nullifies the ballot, however Martin noted that voters are notified of an invalid ballot when they insert the ballot into the machine.

"It's the same as with any primary," she said. "It's not been an issue."

Martin said her office, including City Clerk Laura Broski, also don't expect any problems counting ballots Tuesday night, despite two write-in campaigns from Nancy Cassis and Rev. Drexel Morton, both of whom are looking for the Republican nomination for the .

The Detroit Free Press reported Sunday that the number of write-in votes could delay final vote tallies, with some final counts not coming until Wednesday.

However, Martin said her office is prepared to handle the write-in votes and Birmingham's final vote count depends on how quickly the local precincts close.

For more information on the Tuesday's primary election, including where to vote and a run-down of who's on the ballot, visit Michigan's August Primary 2012.

Stay tuned to Patch for complete results later tonight. The Birmingham's City Clerk's office will also post results on the city website.