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PAGE 6 ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS OF MICHIGAN October 8, 2020

NORTHVILLE
NORTHVILLE

Ballot Familiar names to appear as write-in candidates

FROM PAGE 1 Robert Nix, who was defeated ” ing litigation.
in his bid for reelection as Those documents were not
boxes inside of city hall,” she Northville Township Supervisor Nix was defeated in the Republican primary election delivered or supplied and Abbo
added. by only 39 votes in August, will be by former township supervisor Mark Abbo who and his team subsequently made
Craig-Bragg said her office a write-in candidate for the job Freedom of Information Act
had mailed 5,743 absentee bal- on the Nov. 3 ballot. served in the job for more than a decade. requests for the documents,
lots by last week. Nix will be joined as write-in some of which were provided
“Voters who have requested candidates by defeated under the provisions of the law.
an absentee ballot and have not Township Clerk Marjorie Abbo said the request for
received it by Oct. 19, should Banner and Township Treasurer register as a write-in candidate. personnel would be scheduled information was an effort toward
contact the clerk's office at (734) Fred Shadko. All have registered John Werth, a former director with himself and transition team a dignified and respectful transi-
942-7540. Voters who have not their write-in candidacy with the of public safety in the township members Julie Garavaglia (eco- tion in township leadership and
mailed in their AV ballots by Oct. office of the Wayne County Clerk. who is currently serving as the nomic development), Mike Cox an effort to save time.
19 should use the drop boxes,” Nix was defeated in the transition manager for Abbo, (legal), Phil McGuire (public Nix, however, said that Abbo's
Craig-Bragg advised. Republican primary election by recently requested an analysis of services), Werth (public safety), request for detailed and, in some
Her office, like most other former Twnship Supervisor all township departments from Steve McGuirk (parks and recre- cases, sensitive township infor-
municipal clerks, will have spe- Mark Abbo who served in the job current Township Manager Todd ation), Kevin Kelley (senior serv- mation, was “simply inappropri-
cial, extended week-end hours for more than a decade, from Mutchler. In a two-page, hand- ices), Dale Yagalia (youth servic- ate before the Nov. 3 general
this month, leading up to the 2000 until 2012. Banner lost her delivered letter, Werth requested es), Alan Helmkamp (landfill) election.” He said he would not
election. bid to Roger Lundberg and an anaylsis of the strengths, and Rhines and Lundberg. release confidential contracts or
In Sumpter Township, Deputy Shadko was outvoted by Jason weaknesses, opportunities and Werth also requested copies employee information prior to
Clerk Anthony Burdick said that Rhines in the primary election. threats, or SWOT, of all depart- of outstanding contracts with the general election.
2,088 absentee ballots had been Nix said the small number of ments. He indicated that follow- vendors and personnel informa- The winners in the Nov. 3 bal-
sent to voters requesting them votes separating him from Abbo ing the receipt of the informa- tion including wages, union con- loting will begin their new terms
and in Van Buren Township, was a factor in his decision to tion, interviews with township tracts and any pending or ongo- Nov. 20.
requested and mailed to town- Upstaged
Clerk Leon Wright said that 9,251
absentee ballots had been
ship voters by Oct. 1.
“This is a historical amount of Local woman performs in college a cappella competition
absentee ballots for Van Buren
Township and our office is very Candidates for office aren't cappella group. charities of their choice.
excited for the turnout already. the only ones looking for voters' More than 160 leading college Whether Amazin' Blue con-
We encourage anyone who is support this month. a cappella groups from around tinues on in the competition
interested in voting absentee to Medha Sripada is also hoping the world applied for the com- depends on internet fan voting
visit www.mi.gov/vote or to come that voters in her home town of petition, and Sripada is a mem- which will determine how far
to the clerk's office to request an Northville will cast a vote for her ber of one of only 32 U.S. groups each group goes in the competi-
absentee ballot in person,” and her University of Michigan selected. tion. Voting, according to offi-
Wright said. a cappella group Amazin' Blue All teams have been seeded cials is now open to help make
Wayne City Clerk Tina Stanke which was recently selected to into a 32-team bracket by region Sripada's team a champion.
said her office had mailed 3,925 compete in UpStagedAid: One (modeled after NCAA's March To vote, go to the UpStaged
ballots by last Thursday and that world, Every Student Voice, the Madness). website where the bracket line-
requests continue to come into largest international college a “It's going well,” Sripada said. up and a link to click to watch
her office daily, as do returned cappella championship in histo- “We just finished round one each video is available and vote
ballots. She said that about 375 ry and the first ever virtual col- where we defended but I haven't for a favorite team. Users will be
of those ballots had already been lege championship of the kind. looked at the results yet.” Her able to click on any school to
returned in the city, waiting to be Sripada, 19, is a sophomore at group was selected as the num- watch a four-minute a cappella
counted on Nov. 3. University of Michigan in Ann ber four seed for the Midwest video and then compare that
“We have a brand new, stain- Arbor and joined the Amazin' region, a pretty high rating. performance against the first
less steel ballot box on the east Blue group there after graduat- Winning teams receive round match and vote.
side of city hall,” she said. “I urge ing from Northville High School $10,000+ in cash prizes and More information is available
voters to use it. It is absolutely where she also sang with an a donations to the social justice at UpstagedU.com. Medha Sripada
secure.”
The ballot box, Stanke said,
was funded by Wayne County
and is a convenience voters can
utilize 24 hours a day.
Westland had issued 22,083
absentee ballots by last Friday,
according to City Clerk Richard
LeBlanc, and 2,988 had also
been returned by that date.
“With more than one month
to go until Election Day, the
more than 22,000 issued as of
today compares to a total of
10,504 issued for the 2016
Presidential Election,” he said.
Westland has 64,869 voters,
LeBlanc said, and the
Permanent Absentee Voters list
stands at 21,687.
“We expect the total number
of issued AVs to exceed 25,000
for the Nov. 3 election.
Completed absentee ballots can
be delivered to the U.S. Post
Office, or Westland City Hall if
you're a registered voter in
Westland. We prefer that voters
deliver their voted, signed ballot
to city hall.
“The city has three drop box
areas, one in the parking lot, on
the face of the building at the
main entrance, and in a mail slot
at the clerk's portion of the
counter inside city hall. Postage
is not required if you use the
city-only drop box or mail slot,”
LeBlanc reminded voters.
All returned ballots have a
barcode on the envelope, not on
the ballot, LeBlanc said, and vot-
ers are required to sign the enve-
lope. That signature is compared
electronically to the signature of
the voter on file through the
state voter database before it is
placed in a secure bin to become
tabulated on Election Day, he
noted.
LeBlanc said he strongly
encourages absentee balloting
for the safety of both the voter
and his staff.
“We are outfitting our
precinct election officials with
PPE, but I consider them to be as
much of a frontline champion as
many of those others who ven-
ture out to serve the public. For
their safety and mine, I'm choos-
ing to vote with a safe and secure
absentee ballot out of respect for
all other people. Our office
encourages all voters to consider
doing the same,” he said.