Stories indexed with the term ‘election 2008’

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City attorney Stephen Postema visited around 25 different polling places on Election Day in his capacity as election commissioner. First off, I’d like to thank Stephen for allowing me to tag along with him all day as he checked in on various polling places. One point we had addressed the previous day when discussing logistics was what kind of access I’d be afforded at the various precincts: I would at all times avail myself of exactly the privileges afforded the general public. Every polling place has a public viewing area.

From those public viewing spots there’d be no talking to people waiting in line, no photography, nothing to disrupt the ritual of democracy. (I don’t think lending my pen to Dave Boutette, who asked me for it to fill out his voter application, broke the spirit of the rules.)

Postema and I had agreed to meet at Slauson Middle School to start the day. I wasn’t sure where exactly he’d meant, and figured it would not be smart to just barge into the polls asking, “Anybody seen Stephen Postema?” At 6:58 a.m., two minutes before the polls opened, I received a text message clarifying the situation: “Postema is in here conducting the masses.” [Full Story]

At various polling places around the city of Ann Arbor, the colorful campaign signs for candidates stuck into the ground provided a nice complement to the spectacular fall foliage still stuck to the trees. But it wasn’t signs that impressed The Chronicle most – it was the live human beings offering literature in the 15th District Court judicial race. Many of them were family.

We met Eric Gutenberg’s parents, Erwin and Barbara, at Bach Elementary. At Thurston Elementary we met Christopher Easthope’s mother, Mary. And at Tappan Middle School we chatted with his sister, Tracey Easthope, and his nephew, Luke Desprez. And we met plenty of other Gutenberg or Easthope supporters at other polling places as well. [Full Story]

After checking in with county clerk Larry Kestenbaum at the county building at Main and Ann Street (he was hosting an election night non-partisan gathering), The Chronicle walked back down Main Street, took a left at Washington Street and looped around past Arbor Brewing Company. Overheard from the small pods of young folks gathered on the sidewalk were complaints about the lack of liveliness among the crowd inside ABC: “They f&^*ing suck.” We rounded the corner at Fourth Street and headed for Liberty Street. [Full Story]

To capture the experience of Ann Arbor voters today, The Chronicle is tagging along with city attorney Stephen Postema as he drops by polling places around the city, filling his role as one of three election commissioners. The Chronicle won’t be given special access to areas reserved for election inspectors, but we will be covering a lot of territory. Check back for periodic updates throughout the day – with the most recent posts at the top of this article – and add your own observations in the comments section.

9:30 p.m. Still at Slauson, where results from Ward 5, Precinct 4 have now come in. The 15th District Court judicial race remains tight: Easthope 623, Gutenberg 648. For city council, Hohnke drew 1,259 … [Full Story]

Tomorrow The Chronicle plans to log a few miles visiting as many precinct polling places as we can. We’re getting a ride from Stephen Postema, city attorney and one of three election commissioners for Ann Arbor. The other two are city clerk Jacqueline Beaudry and police chief Barnett Jones.

We’ve chosen not to obtain press credentials so that we can have the same experience the general public has at any polling place on election day. In this we’re taking a page from Postema’s book. He doesn’t vote absentee, he says, because he wants to get a feeling for the voting experience that most voters have. That will mean that he’s not even able to cut in line – no special privileges are afforded Postema as city attorney or as election commissioner. [Full Story]