The state posted record-breaking returns, although not everyone was willing to wait for hours. The Epoch Times spoke to voters and those deterred.
DETROIT—As Michigan’s statewide early voting began on Oct. 26, long wait times discouraged more than a few would-be participants who spoke with The Epoch Times.
Bill Keller decided against waiting in a two-hour line in Farmington Hills.
“I think what I’ll do is absentee vote,” the supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris told The Epoch Times before he walked back to his car.
Farnsworth and Tricia Howard were deterred by the line at a site in Waterford Oaks.
Farnsworth Howard, a retired United Auto Workers union representative, told The Epoch Times that the two planned to vote for former President Donald Trump in the hopes of ushering in “a new era.”
For all the attrition, the state posted record-breaking returns.
It is Michigan’s first presidential election with early voting, which was instituted via a 2022 ballot proposal to amend the state constitution, and more than 145,000 early ballots were cast on Oct. 26.
“We’re starting a new tradition of early voting here in Michigan,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement announcing the figures.
The buzz of activity was reflected in the polling numbers. By late afternoon, 463 ballots had been pushed through the tabulator at the Farmington Hills site.
“This is a higher turnout than we expected,” Dawn Raymond, who was overseeing early voting at the site, said.
She told The Epoch Times that things had gone well. “We haven’t had many people with any political issues that they’re trying to bring up with us when it’s something that we shouldn’t be discussing here,” Raymond said.
For senior citizen Leia, like many other voters, 2024 is about more than policy and dry statistics—it is charged with emotion. She and her husband, Hans, did not wish to use their real names for fear of reprisal.
A dietitian, Leia described the election as her chance to oppose Trump, a man she likened to Adolf Hitler.
“Harris makes you feel good,” she said.
Hans noted that his own brother-in-law was attending a nearby Trump rally. Harris held a rally in the state on the same day.
