First Absentee Ballots Sent for Aug. 5 Primary

The Ann Arbor city clerk’s office has announced that the first wave of absentee ballots have been sent to voters who’ve requested them for the Aug. 5, 2014 primary election.

Based on the dataset released by the city clerk’s office, the first wave included a total of 1,879 ballots. Among the city’s five wards, the largest number of ballots (599, or about 32%) was sent to Ward 2 voters. Ward 2 offers a closely-watched city council race  – for the seat that no incumbent is contesting. Sally Petersen, the current councilmember in that position, is running for mayor. Kirk Westphal and Nancy Kaplan are contesting the Democratic primary to fill that seat.

By ward, the smallest number of ballots in the first wave (160 or 8.5%) was sent to Ward 1 voters.

The total number of absentee ballots sent in the first wave two years ago (1,919), for the August 2012 primary, was roughly on par with this year.

Of the 1,879 ballots sent in this year’s first wave, 1,138 or 60% of them were also sent to voters in the August 2012 first wave.

An application to receive an absentee ballot can be downloaded from the city clerk’s website. [.pdf of absentee ballot application form] Completed applications can be mailed or hand delivered to the clerk’s office on the second floor of city hall, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. The applications can also be scanned and emailed to cityclerk@a2gov.org.