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Opinion | The election story no one is telling
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There have been a lot of stories written about the results of Michigan’s primary election, but there’s one win that’s not getting the recognition it deserves. Across all 83 counties in Michigan, the counting, certifying and closing of the primary election polls proceeded accurately and without incident.
Professional, well-run elections don’t make for splashy headlines, but they’re what keeps an election system credible. That matters because trust in our elections is about more than politics, it’s about the health and stability of our communities and economy.
I know this because at the Grand Rapids Chamber, our business is trust. We work to build confidence between businesses and the communities they serve. A huge piece of that is having trust that the governments administering rules and regulations are fair and trustworthy. And that all starts with trust in the system that put those leaders in place.
When voters lose confidence in how we elect our leaders, skepticism spreads to the institutions those leaders oversee, which is bad for democracy and bad for economic vibrancy.
Prior to the primary election, I was invited to sit in on a Public Accuracy Test, a legally required dry run every county performs before votes are cast to ensure voting machines are accurately tabulating ballots. These tests are open to the public, so I joined with some fellow neighbors to see how our local clerks ensure accuracy in our elections.
At the test, elections officials fed a pre-marked “test deck” into the tabulators, then checked the results against an answer key. If the numbers match, the machine is certified as ready for Election Day. A simple process, but one that gave me real confidence in the results.
The November election in our state is shaping up to be closely watched. Control of Congress and several pivotal statewide offices are on the line. Races with enormous impact often bring louder claims about the process itself being unfair or corrupt. But what I saw this month is a useful baseline: Our elections are run with integrity.
In an era when suspicion can travel faster than facts, seeing this process matters. That’s one of the reasons I’m involved with Pillars of the Community, a nonpartisan election integrity project led by election law experts Ben Ginsberg and Bob Bauer. Their work brings leaders together to learn how elections actually work, so they can take that knowledge back to their communities. The idea behind the project is simple, we shouldn’t ask people to blindly trust our elections. We need to show them.
Having confidence in our elections should matter to you. It’s a marker of a healthy, functioning society. Use your standing to educate yourself and the people around you. And if you have questions heading into the midterms, there will be another Public Accuracy Test before November where you can see this process in action for yourself.
We should demand that our elections be accurate. We should ask tough questions when warranted. Accountability and scrutiny are strengths of our system, not challenges to overcome. But we also have to be willing to look at the process for ourselves.
Trust isn’t built by telling people to trust, but by showing them why they can. Michigan’s business community understands this well. Employers want predictability. Customers want confidence. Communities want stability. Our democracy deserves the same.
The next time you hear someone question whether our elections can be trusted, invite them to see how it works.
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