DETROIT (WXYZ) — City of Detroit elections officials spoke just days before the upcoming November 2024 general election, sharing the work they're doing and the work that will be done in the coming days.
According to Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, the city has already seen a significant amount of early voters, and they anticipate to have a turnout of 51% to 55% in this election. Detroit has 524,000 registered voters, according to Winfrey.
So far, about 22,000 voters have cast their ballots at one of the 14 early vote centers and by the end of early voting on Sunday, they expect nearly 35,000 Detroiters to have voted early. She also said that 110,000 absentee ballots have been issued.
"Things are much different now since 2022," Winfrey said about the changes passed with Proposal 2 back in 2022.
Huntington Place is where they will count the absentee ballots. In 2020, it became the heart of false claims by then-President Donald Trump alleging that the election was rigged against him. Hundreds of people converged on what was then called TCF Center as workers counted the ballots.
Hear more from Winfrey in the video below
Daniel Baxter, the chief operating officer of the Detroit Elections Department, said they are working with the Detroit Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff's Office, Michigan State Police, Department of Justice and more to keep the absentee ballot counting board secure.
"For this election, we have put together a very rigorous security plan," Baxter said. "Today, as we sit in this room, there are 10 police officers strategically located in the event that we have an event or someone violates or deviates from Michigan election law."
"We have established and maintained a comprehensive security plan for this week and the days moving forward," Winfrey added. “This will continue through election night to ensure the safety of our election workers and the integrity of the election process.”
Baxter said that they've been at Huntington Place for days and there hasn't been any disturbances or issues.
Winfrey also has a police officer assigned to her for her protection.
"Through my years as clerk, I do feel like it's an overkill to have an officer with me," she said. "When they came to my home in 2020 and threatened my life because they thought that I had something to do with Trump lost. Then it became different for me."
"Unfortunately, I have to have someone with me."
When asked about the parity for the counting boards, Baxter said they have a memorandum of understanding with the Michigan Republican Party and they have a Republican representative at each one of the 50 counting boards at Huntington Place.
According to Baxter, they also have a Republican representative at each one of the 14 early vote centers, and they are working to ensure there's at least one at each one of the 400 precincts on Election Day.
"Nothing changed. We’re doing the exact same thing we typically do for every election," Baxter said.
Hear more from Baxter in the video below
Winfrey also detailed out how election night should go in Detroit with results. She said they're expected to be posted around 9 p.m. and should be complete by midnight.
The early vote results will be in around 8 p.m. with around 35,000 people. Absentee results should come out around 9 p.m. and then those will be followed by Election Day votes.
Results are expected to be posted around 9 p.m. and should be completed by midnight, assuming our 8 p.m. mail delivery doesn’t bring in an unusually high number of ballots.
This year, the counting board has moved into a more spacious area of Huntington Place, and Baxter is reminding people that the transparency that has always existed will continue to exist in the new space.
“Challengers, observers, the media and the like still have access to this process to ensure and maintain the integrity of the operation,” Baxter said.
Winfrey was also asked how the city is planning to protect absentee ballots and ballot drop boxes amid situations in other parts of the country where ballot boxes have been set on fire.
Winfrey said they have a plan in place, and they use a device put inside the drop box that prevents a fire. She also said they have security sitting in front of the drop boxes overnight.
She's asking absentee voters to drop their ballot in any of the city's 34 absentee ballot boxes instead of mailing them in at this point. The city wants to ensure all absentee ballots are received in time for Election Day.
