Michigan primaries – where democracy goes to die

Primary voting in non-presidential years is abysmal in Michigan.

For much of the year, Dickinson County is a rural patch of snow in the Upper Peninsula where few reside and little happens.

But once every four years, on the first Tuesday in August, even less happens.

Dickinson County has the lowest voter turnout in non-presidential primaries in Michigan. And in a state that generally meets primaries with a rousing yawn, that’s quite a distinction.

“That’s what we’re known for,” shrugged Dickinson County Clerk Dolly Cook. “I try to get people to vote, but it usually doesn’t work.”

Dickinson County, population 26,000, is the epicenter of electoral apathy, a place where, in one recent primary, one in 15 registered voters managed to wander into a polling place to cast a ballot.

And while the rest of the state might not meet Dickinsonian standards, no county has room to crow.
How apathetic are voters in your county?

There are 40 open House seats and 10 open Senate seats open in the Senate, enough to swing major issues. And in many districts, where voters are overwhelmingly conservative or progressive, the only competitive race is the primary. Yet turnout is incredibly low. (Montmorency County, west of Alpena, “boasts” the highest turnout at just 34.8 percent in 2010)

“It’s truly unfortunate,” said Doug Roberts, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. “In a low turnout election, your vote counts even more.”
Statewide, voter turnout in the past three non-presidential year primaries has ranged from 18 percent to 23 percent. This primary would appear to have most in common with 2006, with a sitting governor running for reelection. That year, the turnout statewide was 18 percent.

“We make such a big thing about making the world safe for democracy, and yet we don’t vote here. What’s wrong with this picture?” – Doug Roberts, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University

In Dickinson County, it was 6.6 percent. One in 11 registered voters cast ballots that year in Isabella County; one in 10 registered voters cast ballots in Muskegon and Emmet Counties; fewer than one in six in Wayne County.

In a state where voter turnout is typically low during primaries, Tuesday’s vote could set records – the kind nobody wants.

“I would expect to see low numbers, even by historic standards,” Roberts said. “There’s no (contested primaries) at the top of the ticket.

“We make such a big thing about making the world safe for democracy, and yet we don’t vote here,” Roberts scolded. “What’s wrong with this picture?”

In Dickinson County, home to Iron Mountain, clerk Cook holds out little hope that turnout will increase. “We have a clerk race in Norway heating up,” Cook said. “But we haven’t had anything controversial, so people don’t turn out.”