• Michigan voters cast ballots in competitive US Senate, governor and other primaries
• Many voters cited the economy, government and leadership as top priorities
• Some Republicans raised concerns about election security and voter fraud while younger Democratic voters backed progressive candidates 

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Michigan voters headed to the polls on Tuesday with concerns about voter fraud, government leadership, the cost of living, war in the Middle East and the future of politics on their minds. 

As of Tuesday morning, more than 1.3 million voters had already cast their absentee ballots or voted early, according to the state, but a steady stream of voters cast ballots in person on Election Day.Voters on Tuesday decided major party nominees for governor, the US Senate, the US House and the Legislature and voted on several local ballot initiatives.

For 66-year-old Warren resident David Yankovich, his biggest issue in the election is “stopping communist socialism.”

Yankovich voted for John James for governor and Mike Rogers for US Senate in the Republican primary Friday morning at the Dorothy M. Busch Library.

“It’s disgusting,” said Yankovich. “Everywhere it has ever been implemented, it has always failed.”

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In Traverse City, two voters from opposite ends of the political spectrum told Bridge Michigan they were motivated by the same thing: a desire for change.

“Basically to get out the powers that be, and hopefully change the future for the better,” said Melissa Hoeppner, a 54-year-old teacher who already voted absentee in the Democratic primary but was passing out literature near a polling place.

“I’m hopeful for my son and any children — my students, as well — in that area.”

Steve Melichar, a 76-year-old retiree who voted in the Republican primary, said he, too, wanted to overturn the status quo. 

“You got Democrats and Republicans — it’s stupid, they all vote as one person,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

Melichar told Bridge he wasn’t motivated by any particular issue, but instead turned out to vote for a specific candidate: Perry Johnson, for governor. 

“He’s not a politician,” Melichar told Bridge. “He’s a businessman, and, like it or not, government’s a business.”

About two hours north in Carp Lake, a small community outside of Mackinaw City, Joanna Reed shared a similar sentiment. 

Reed emerged from her polling place feeling like she’d done her duty, but with little confidence in politics.

“They get into office to get rich — they aren’t there to serve us,” Reed said. “Our elderly and our vets are being ignored, and it’s wrong. It’s not the way it used to be.”

Reed described herself as an independent and voted in the Republican primary. She voted for Johnson for governor. 

“I feel he listens more than the other candidates,” Reed said. “I want people elected who are going to work for me. A lot of them don’t do that nowadays.”

While several Republican and independent voters said they were driven by frustration with government, Democratic voters Bridge spoke with were more focused on everyday economic challenges and investments in their communities.

Duchess Sanders, a 33-year-old plastic parts plant worker who normally votes Democratic, declined to say which candidates she voted for but noted they were candidates she feels “can make the community better.”

“They really need to work more on our community, focus on our people, what we need because we are here living it every day,” Sanders said. “We need better gas prices, better food prices, better and more jobs. We need community stuff for our children. They have got to put more stuff into the schools. We need all that.”

In Kalamazoo, two voters with different priorities told Bridge they were motivated by a mix of candidate preferences and concerns about the direction of our government. 

Brandon Keyser, a 41-year-old IT worker who said he normally votes Democratic, cast his ballot for Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic US Senate primary because he supports the candidate’s progressive policies. 

“I also believe in what he says when he talks about getting foreign lobbies out of Congress,” Keyser said.

For governor, Keyser backed Chris Swanson, saying he believed Swanson was the better choice and adding that he has “not been a fan of (Jocelyn) Benson while she’s secretary of state.” He also voted for Diop Harris in the local US House race, saying Harris’ policies were “more America first than anything else.”

Keyser said his biggest priority was maintaining “checks and balances” in government.  

“I don’t want to vote for someone who’s going to rubber-stamp more policies and let them do whatever they want,” he said.

While much of voters’ attention has focused on the candidates, election administration and voter confidence also remained central issues in Tuesday’s primary.

Outside Detroit’s Department of Elections, Lorenzo Sewell, pastor of 180 Church, and members of his congregation discouraged people from voting absentee, claiming, “they’re setting up to cheat.” 

Those concerns resonated with some members of Sewell’s congregation, likeSymone Wilkes, who chose to vote in person because of doubts about absentee voting. The 35-year-old community outreach specialist claims an absentee ballot was cast on her behalf in the 2020 election, but she only ever votes in person. 

“I’m voting for John James because he’s going after voter fraud,” Wilkes said. “I was a victim of voter fraud in 2020. I’m passionate about it because our city does not have any money because of voter fraud.” 

President Donald Trump has made combating voter fraud a priority after repeatedly claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen, though courts, election officials and audits found no evidence of widespread fraud that altered the results.

The US Department of Justice announced Tuesday morning that it will be monitoring polls in Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.” 

“Our primary monitoring efforts continue today as we seek to ensure free and fair elections nationwide,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement. “The Department of Justice is devoting extensive resources to ensure uniform and nondiscriminatory monitoring. We appreciate the cooperation of these jurisdictions in promoting trust and transparency.”

Two teams of observers were spotted taking notes at a polling location in Lansing.

While some voters said election security motivated their decisions, younger voters Bridge interviewed were largely focused on issues ranging from the war in Gaza to campaign financing and the direction of the Democratic Party.

At Bethel A.M.E. Church in Detroit, young voters told Bridge they voted for El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination for US Senate. 

Brian Will, 29, a librarian, previously volunteered for El-Sayed during his gubernatorial race in 2018 and said he appreciates El-Sayed’s “moral clarity on the Israel-Palestine issue.”

He said candidates who align with US Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, will “more aggressively protect the people who are the most vulnerable” and provide an “alternative vision to the way things are.” 

“There are some politicians who recognize that the establishment is legitimately not meeting people’s needs,” Will said. 

Victoria Price, 22, of Detroit, a Wayne State University student studying marketing, who also works at Chipotle, told Bridge she also voted for El-Sayed.

“I just wanted to make sure that he actually won or at least got as many votes as possible,” Price said.

What drew Price to El-Sayed? 

“Just the fact that he was independently funded: He wasn’t taking any money from people that don’t actually care about our values or things that we need in the community.” 

She voted for Benson for the Democratic nominee for governor, saying she did not like Swanson. 

Noah Lapp, 32, recently moved to Mount Pleasant after living in northern Iraq and working as an education coordinator for the past nine years. The educator was brought back to the United States not by choice, but was evacuated from the area after the war in Iran began to escalate earlier this year. 

In 2020, Lapp was teaching in Iraq when missile strikes targeted the region during the first Trump administration. 

For Michigan’s US Senate race, he voted for El-Sayed, who has heavily campaigned against military aid to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“It’s very easy when it’s on the news, you can kind of ignore it,” he said. “When it’s your neighbors getting their houses bombed, you start to change the way you feel about the way we’re dealing with that whole region.” 

Lapp worked for Jesuit Worldwide Learning, a global nonprofit organization that teaches higher education in displaced communities. 

Other Democratic voters said they were less motivated by ideology than by experience and trusted leadership, pointing to endorsements and candidates’ governing records as key factors in their decisions.

Ron Lemke, a 79-year-old retiree in Alpena, said he struggled with who to select in the Democratic primary for the US Senate, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Haley Stevens put her over the top. He voted for Benson to receive the Democratic nomination for governor.

He said he considers himself an independent voter and the biggest motivating factor sending him to the polls on Tuesday was “really just my dissatisfaction with what’s going on in government.

“I’m tired of the lies and half-truths,” Lemke said shortly after casting his ballot at First United Methodist Church. “There’s just a lot of hypocrisy and people remaining silent when they should speak up.”

David Taylor, a 28-year-old program director at a nonprofit cultural center called Fire, also said leadership influences his choices. He voted for Stevens in the Democratic US Senate primary, citing Whitmer’s endorsement as the reason why. 

“I really trust our current governor’s leadership,” Taylor said. “Especially among all the chaos in politics, she’s a voice that we can listen to.”

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