Early voting underway in Isabella County
Dana, Deb and Bryan Mielke pose outside Powers Hall on Oct. 26, 2024, the first day of early voting at the location. (CM Life | Lydia Soltis)
At 11:20 a.m on Oct. 26, the line of people coming for early voting backed up to the door of Powers Hall on campus, with voters of every age.
Erica Hopcraft is chairperson of the precinct at Powers Hall. She said the day one turnout was looking good.
“Today there are 142 voters that have tabulated ballots,” said Hopcraft. That means 142 votes had been processed as of that time.
“That’s not counting all these people in line,” she said. “That’s very good.”
The line Hopcraft was referring to stretched from the voting room all the way down the hall to the building's entrance.
“We had 20 people waiting for us to open the polls,” Hopcraft said. “The turnout is fantastic.”
Hopcraft said Powers Hall was one of two early voting locations in Isabella County. The second location is the Commission on Aging building, located at 2200 S. Lincoln Road.
“When we first started out (in prior years) it was a little slow,” Hopcraft said. She said they had turnouts of 200-300 in the years before now.
“This is fantastic," Hopcraft said. "We haven’t seen these numbers since we started the early voting here in Mount Pleasant.”
Karen Gostomski came to vote around noon Saturday. She said the process was slow, but she liked it this time, compared to previous early voting experiences.
"The workers there were probably the best we’ve had in a long time," she said. “The primary just stunk, because they changed the precincts. They said they got that info out but they didn’t.”
She said it was a little challenging because the ballot was on demand, but she did her research months ago.
By noon, 175 ballots had been processed in the Powers Hall early voting location. Voter Deb Wallin arrived at that time to vote, but after seeing the crowd, she said she would come back later. She wasn’t alone in that decision, as others saw the crowds and turned around as well.
“I just think people are really excited for the first day of voting,” she said.
Others didn't mind the line, like Mount Pleasant resident Joseph Carreon. He said he'd seen worse in the past.
“I’m originally from Texas so this is fine,” he said. He moved to Michigan in December.
“This was a smooth short (wait)," Carreon said. "It seemed quicker, seemed pleasant I’d say. I guess I’m in a good mood today so it didn’t bother me."
Carreon said he voted “Yes” on the county Sheriff's millage. He said he goes to the commission meetings, and the community is more a priority than his own financial needs.
“In short I’d say just giving them the funding they requested is always going to be more beneficial for the city,” he said.
Another voter, Harold "Hal" Hull said that voting went "very smoothly" for he an his wife, Michelle Hull.
"We’ve done this for how many years (now,) and we're pretty familiar with the process,” he said.
Hal said he always votes straight ticket. He said he doesn’t vote on the back because he doesn’t want to vote for the wrong person or choice. He said this was the first early voting experience for he and his wife.
“I kind of feel good about early voting the way things have changed in the last years,” Hal said. “All the way things have changed on Election Day ... It seems a little more accurate. Everything counts so there’s not so much to do on election night.”
When it comes to the early voting process, he said things seem a little more accurate. He said it took two weeks in 2020, and elections are a lot closer now. When recalling the accuracy of the 2020 election, he said he was a bit skeptical about the results.
"Not nefarious," Hal said. "I just didn't feel good about it. I wasn’t comfortable with the results.”
He said it took so long deciding what votes to count and that wasn’t how the government should work. When told that there were very limited cases of immigrant voting or voting twice, he said he’d “take your word for it.”
Several young people said this was their first time voting in a presidential election. One of them was Lincoln Taylor.
“It was quiet,” Taylor said. “Everyone was pleasant.”
In terms of politics as a whole, Taylor said he isn’t happy with how campaigning has changed over time.
“It’s pretty parroted amongst a lot of people, but I feel the election has been less about the policies and more about who can drum up a mob mentality,” Taylor said.
He said both sides are at fault for this, and that campaigning has become about “Who can create a better yo mamma joke.”
“Even (Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim) Walz was like, creating insults against (Republican Vice Presidential hopeful) JD Vance and (Republican Presidential candidate Donald) Trump,” Taylor said.
Because of this, Taylor said he doesn’t even watch debates. He researches candidates on Wikipedia and then looks up their history and specific policies. He said that Trump uses Twitch as an interesting technology to advertise his beliefs.
Naomi McCormack is a mother who had brought her 1-year-old son in a front carrier as she voted. She said it was warm in there with another human on her.
“Other than keeping him entertained, everyone was calm and orderly,” she said.
McCormack said she feels strongly about this election.
“(I'm) nervous, anxious,” she said. “A little terrified for the what-could-be’s. (The election has) been a weight on my shoulders, whether I want it to be or not. You kind of can’t avoid it wherever you go, regardless of whether you're mindlessly scrolling on TikTok … You can’t avoid it.”
She said the voting process and volunteers were honest, but she wished she saw more diversity in the election officials.
“I think it would make it welcoming to others," McCormack said.
Volunteer Bryan Mielke said he had received a text from the other voting location for Isabella County that they were crowded as well.
Voters said that while the wait was about an hour long at Powers Hall, the voting process itself went smoothly.
John Zang, a volunteer for early voting, said that around 1 p.m. Saturday, almost 230 ballots had been processed at Powers Hall. He said the numbers were unprecedented, and it didn't appear they would be slowing down anytime soon.
Early voting runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through Nov. 3.
