Local elections are taking place Tuesday in several communities around Berrien and Van Buren counties.
Berrien County Clerk Stacy Loar-Porter tells us many of the questions on the ballot are related to school millage or bond requests, meaning more communities will be taking part in voting than it would first appear. She says you can check with your township, city, or village to find out if you can vote. Or you could check the Berrien County Clerk’s website.
Loar-Porter says there will be a lot of absentee votes cast due to the time of year and many residents being away. We wondered how clerk’s offices handle the counting of absentee ballots.
“They have two ways they can do them,” Loar-Porter said. “They can do an absentee counting board, which is a board that is treated like a separate precinct, and that’s all they do all day is process absentee ballots into a tabulator. Then some of the smaller jurisdictions process them throughout the day in the same precinct that the voters are voting in.”
As for those voting in-person, Loar-Porter had a few pointers.
“Make sure you’re in the right jurisdiction. Make sure you’ve studied what’s on the ballot. Look to know what you’re voting on. All that information can be found on the Berrien County website as well under Elections. If you have your ID, please bring your ID. If you don’t, there’s some extra paperwork you have to fill out.”
That paperwork would be an affidavit asserting your identity.
Loar-Porter says polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. and her office will be open to receive all the results from local governments. With only handful of elections, she’s not expecting any major delays.
“So it’ll be a little bit smoother. But we do all the same stuff no matter how big or how small. So we want more people to come out.”
Results will be posted on county clerk websites.
In Berrien County, voters will consider proposals for Bridgman Public Schools, Coloma Community Schools, Eau Claire Public Schools, and the River Valley School District. There will also be municipal questions on the ballot in the city of Watervliet and Baroda Township.
In Van Buren County, there will be a school proposal for Gobles Public Schools and municipal questions in the village of Paw Paw and the city of Bangor.
There are no elections taking place Tuesday in Cass County.
