A sign at Scarlett Middle School polling station for the Aug. 2, 2011 Ann Arbor city council primary election. (Photos by the writer.)

Over the years, my worldview changed. We founded The Chronicle in part because we felt that our local government deserves more media coverage on an intentional, routine basis, not just when a perceived “scandal” surfaces.

So Chronicle coverage routinely includes details of how local government bureaucracy works, what decisions are being made, who’s making them and why, and how taxpayer money is being spent.

Unlike decisions made at the national level, it’s conceivable in a community the size of Ann Arbor – or even the whole of Washtenaw County – for individuals to understand and influence what happens here, especially if they’re armed with information.

In November 2008, after its launch a couple of months earlier, The Chronicle covered its first election. The presidential race between Obama and McCain sparked passion and drew crowds to the polls in Ann Arbor, most of them voting for Barack Obama.

I was reminded of that exhilarating night this last Tuesday, when I spent much of the day dropping in on polling sites in Ann Arbor’s primary elections for city council in Wards 2, 3 and 5.

Last Tuesday, I didn’t see much passion and there were no crowds. No lines at the polls, no dancing in the streets. It didn’t feel like many people were paying attention.

In fact, several poll workers told me it was the lowest turnout they could recall – and some of them had worked the polls for decades. By the numbers, 3,931 people voted in the three wards, out of 46,797 total registered voters. That’s 8.4%. There were no primaries in Wards 1 and 4 because there were no challengers to the incumbent Democrats, no Republican candidates in Ward 1, and only one Republican in the Ward 4 primary.

There was even a precinct where not one person showed up to vote – Ward 2, Precinct 2, with a polling station in Palmer Commons, on the University of Michigan campus. That’s not the only time in recent memory no one has voted in Precinct 2-2. The same thing happened in the 2005 Democratic primary, contested between Eugene Kang and Stephen Rapundalo.

So poll workers last Tuesday had time on their hands – they’d been advised to bring reading material. And we saw many of them with library books, as well as a few with laptops or iPads. Some of their conversation turned to the low turnout. Two common theories emerged: Public apathy, and the lack of a daily printed newspaper.

Over the past few days, I’ve thought about those theories. Something about them sounds more like an excuse than a reason. Yet I lack an alternative explanation.

An Ode to Public Places

One of the things I’ve grown to love about election days is the chance to visit as many polling locations as possible, to check out democracy in action. It’s better if the weather is dry – I ride my red Honda Ruckus, and a scooter isn’t the best transportation when it’s raining.

I’ll admit the view from the seat of a scooter is not as exotic as the vantage point Ann Arbor city clerk Jackie Beaudry enjoyed earlier this year when she observed elections in in Kazakhstan – but I’ll take it.

On Tuesday, we dropped by 19 of the 25 polling stations in Wards, 2, 3 and 5 – spanning the city’s geography from Lakewood Elementary to the west, to St. Paul’s Lutheran School to the east, from University Townhouses to the south, to Clague Middle School in the north.

It’s not just an opportunity quite literally to witness the process by which our government representatives are elected. Our tour of the polls also takes us to places I don’t usually go in my travels through town, winding through neighborhoods that I don’t visit in my normal routine. They’re neighborhoods that rarely even get a mention in The Chronicle’s Stopped.Watched. feature.

Baby chicks in the hall at Ann Arbor's Lakewood Elementary School.

Schools play host to many of the polling stations. Because I don’t have children, I almost never have cause to walk down hallways lined with abstract finger-painted pictures, with nameplates on the classroom doors for “Mrs. Green” or “Mr. Smith.”

In the hallway of Lakewood Elementary, a cage was rustling with five baby chicks – a handmade poster above the cage told me their names: Goldie, Fluffy, Autumn, Hermione and Pip! Outside of Scarlett Middle School, a Project Grow community garden is fenced off next to the parking lot, lush with sunflowers, tomatoes and other plants nearing harvest. These are vignettes of the community I likely wouldn’t have noticed, were it not for my election-day travels.

Not every polling station is located in a school. Of the 25 polling stations, 17 were located in public schools, one in a private school, two at University of Michigan sites, two at housing complexes, two at churches and one at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library.

I like the connection between elections and schools, or other public places. These locations serve as a reminder of our role as citizens, and of the connection between the people we elect, the taxes we pay, and the tangible work – ideally, for the public good – that gets done as a result: Schools and sewers, streets and stoplights, police and parks.

Going to the polls at least a couple of times each year also serves as a touchstone, grounding us in a sense of place. Few other rituals are so inclusive, or draw together people who are otherwise bounded only by the random physical proximity of their homes, and require of us a common experience. It’s an experience that requires at least some acknowledgement that while we are in many ways singular, we are also intertwined into a larger community in which we all have a stake.

Absentee voting is no doubt more convenient – as online voting would be – but we lose something if we abandon the physical act of schlepping ourselves to the polls. My husband related an anecdote about a friend, visiting last week from Tacoma, Wash., after moving there from Ann Arbor. The Tacoma resident reported that after casting his ballot in Washington’s vote-by-mail system, reading The Chronicle’s field reports from the polls on election day made him nostalgic for that experience.

While convenience would likely move the needle of participation, it wouldn’t significantly change the lack of engagement that the Aug. 2, 2011 turnout reflects. After all, we turned out in droves for the November 2008 election, didn’t we? Almost 69% of registered voters in Washtenaw County cast ballots then. Why can’t we aspire to those numbers – or more – every time?

So Where Are the Voters?

I’m guessing that more people shopped at Briarwood Mall on Tuesday than travelled to their Ann Arbor polling station to vote. Maybe it’s because the view of ourselves as consumers is what’s reflected back to us from nearly every angle. It’s a view reflected through advertising, of course, but also from our nation’s political leaders, who regularly cite the need to spur consumer spending as the key to fixing our economy.

On the other hand, our role as citizens is generally underplayed. Few people aspire to know who represents them on the city council or the county board, let alone understand what’s on a city council agenda or to sit through a county board meeting.

Attending a local government meeting is akin to homework, for many people. It’s a common assignment for high school civics classes – and I can tell you from personal observation, those kids who come to see the county board or city council in action don’t seem to be approaching the task with the idea that they’re witnessing something important. They seem to view it as a punishment, unavoidable and boring, something that can be endured only by taking frequent breaks to send text messages to friends. Based on the turnout at the polls on Tuesday, many of their parents likely feel the same way.

These same parents, however, probably have strong opinions about national issues and politicians. They might not be able to name their city councilmembers, know what ward they live in, or name one important local issue facing the community, but they’ll be passably conversant about any number of national or international issues. Ask about the national debt ceiling, the war in Afghanistan, the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan – and you’ve got a conversation. Ask about TIF capture in the DDA district and you’ll get a blank stare.

So how can we bring at least the same level of conversational competence about national issues to the level of local government? Efforts underway in other sectors might serve as models to help meet this goal.

In the economic sector, there’s a growing recognition of the importance of focusing on your local community. That’s reflected in groups like Think Local First, formed to highlight locally-owned businesses in Washtenaw County, or Slow Food Huron Valley, which focuses on the local food economy – tapping into the “locavore” movement. Another example is described in the recent edition of the magazine Fast Company, which featured a Q&A with Amy Cortese, author of “Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing.” She discusses the premise first floated by Slow Money founder Woody Tasch, who advocates for investing 50% of your assets within 50 miles of where you live.

The same approach applied to local government – a “locavote” movement – would mean a concerted effort to draw attention to the actions of our elected representatives and government staff who are closest to home. Those are the people you actually have a chance of meeting at the grocery or gas station – the people who are making decisions that directly affect where you live, the schools where your children learn, the condition of your street, the safety of your neighborhood.

That kind of interest might also encourage more people to participate by actually running for local office. The fact that Ann Arbor voters often don’t have a choice on the ballot is astonishing, especially for a city with a reputation for political activism.

I’m not suggesting we turn our backs on state or national issues. I believe many of the problems our nation faces today can be traced back to a lack of attention to all levels of government. But we’ve been eating dessert – that is, we’ve been spending too much time as consumers, not citizens. Now it’s time, as Obama said last month regarding the national debt crisis, to “eat our peas.” Peas grown locally, of course.

I personally love peas, but I’m not sure what might compel more people to eat up. Nonpartisan elections? Online voting? Declaring election day a holiday? All of these things might help get people to the table, but it won’t guarantee they’ll bring an appetite. And it’s a sustained hunger for knowing and understanding your local government – not just on election day, but throughout the year – that will make our community stronger.

Sign posted in an Ann Arbor elementary school teachers lounge, down the hall from a polling station for the Aug. 2, 2011 primary election. Unlike the writer of this sign, it didn't seem like many people were watching democracy in action on Tuesday.

Back to Tuesday’s primary elections.

At King Elementary, polling location for Ward 2, Precinct 7, I spent some time in the teachers lounge, working on my laptop to file an update. Posted on a bulletin board was a sign that seemed both ominous and cheery – I took a photo of its admonition: “We’re watching you! Please clean up your mess! Thanks!”

Mess? For the record, I did not leave a mess. But turning up to the polls, like anything in the real world, can be a little messy. Your ballot might not be accepted by the AutoMARK machine on the first try. You might forget your photo ID. Somebody’s kid might spill juicy-juice down your leg. If enough people show up, you might have to wait in a messy line.

That’s actually a goal to which we might aspire: Let there be lines at the polls. In that line you might have to stand next to someone you don’t know and make awkward, messy small talk: “So, you come here often?” But you might see someone you haven’t seen in years – “Hey, you’re not dead, yet!” If nothing else, polls are an odd, endearing social opportunity.

The general election falls on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Voters in every Ann Arbor ward except Ward 1 will have a choice for city council on the ballot. [That assumes Jane Lumm is successful in getting 100 signatures on her nominating petitions as an independent candidate in Ward 2.] To find your polling place, type in an address on the My Property page of the city of Ann Arbor’s website, and click on the Voter tab.

I’m guessing Chronicle readers probably already know where to vote.

But Chronicle readers might not have a get-out-the-vote conversational opener in their repertoire. So here’s a suggestion for the next time you’re at a neighborhood block party, at your place of worship, at your exercise class, or standing in line at the grocery store. Try this simple gambit: “November is a local election, right? So where is it exactly that you vote?”

Come November, I hope to see more of you and your friends at the polls.

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Absentee voter applications are not printed on baseballs. This is just someone's execution of the concept that "Every article should have art!"

Now, you don’t have to go to the game in order to qualify for an absentee ballot. But just to be clear, if you do plan to make a whole day event out of your visit to Detroit to watch the game, that will absolutely qualify you for an absentee ballot. If you expect to be out of town, that’s a legally valid reason for voting absentee.

Maybe some of you would even like to make the short drive in to the ballpark after a Monday night stay at the Westin Book Cadillac – from what I understand, it’s a pleasant place to spend the night, even if you’re not a Washtenaw Communty College trustee.

What about you Chronicle readers who aren’t baseball fans? If you want to vote absentee, the current election law specifies a limited set of other reasons you can use, which include being older than 60, being in jail, or having religious beliefs that prevent attending the polls.

The topic came up a bit more than a week ago, when the Ann Arbor city Democrats hosted a forum for candidates contesting the Democratic primaries for Michigan’s 52nd and 53rd district state House seats. Jeff Irwin, who along with Ned Staebler is running for the 53rd District seat, threw out an idea for a tweak in Michigan’s election laws.

Irwin said he’d like to see “on-demand absentee” voting – citizens would be able to obtain an absentee ballot and avoid the lines at the polls for any or no reason at all. It’s not some new screwball idea – it’s been around a while and enjoys a lot of support, from Washtenaw County clerk Larry Kestenbaum, among others.

For the time being, though, the application for an absentee ballot requires that voters commit, you know, really commit – just like the guy on the mound has to commit to delivering the ball to the plate after starting in that direction – to at least one of the allowable reasons under the state statute. Through June 17, according to the first Absent Voter report sent out last week via email by the city clerk, over 1,800 Ann Arborites have already committed to one of those reasons.

The Absent Voter Report

Last week, the Ann Arbor city clerk’s office sent out an email containing its first Absent Voter report – absentee ballot applications requested through June 17. The first one, as well as subsequent reports, contains an updated list of names and addresses of all voters who have applied for an absentee ballot. That first email indicated that the city has taken delivery of its ballots, so starting this week, the absentee ballots will be mailed out to those who’ve requested them.

How do you sign up for the city clerk’s email alert service? It’s as simple as telling the city clerk you’d like to be added to the “daily AV list.”

Who would want to receive timely updates about people who’ve applied for absentee ballots as those requests roll in? Candidates on those ballots have a clear interest in knowing who has requested ballots and whether the ballots have been returned – both pieces of information are provided in the daily AV list.

As The Chronicle noted back in May, as a part of its coverage of the finalized primary field, someone who’s requested an absentee ballot is highly likely to vote, so from that point of view, candidates typically see them as a good time investment. It’s worth an extra knock on their door or an extra postcard in the mail. Similarly, if the person has already voted by absentee ballot, well, contacting them is not going to change their vote – a candidate’s time might be better invested knocking on new doors.

How Many People Vote Absentee?

Absentee ballot applications are accepted starting 75 days before the election. Calculating backwards from Aug. 3 puts the start of application acceptance on May 21. In the first daily AV list sent last week, 1,860 voters were listed. Broken down by ward, here’s what that picture looks like – the percentages indicate the percent of total ballots requested so far:

Absentee ballot requests
through June 17, 2010
for Aug. 3 primary

214 Ward 1  11.5%
569 Ward 2  30.6%
319 Ward 3  17.2%
475 Ward 4  25.5%
283 Ward 5  15.2%

Total: 1,860

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That percentage distribution of absentee ballots roughly parallels the November 2009 general election absentee voting percentages. Separate absentee ballot count boards – one for each ward – made a breakdown of absentee votes visible in the election results [Ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 3, Ward 4, Ward 5]:

Absentee Voting
by Ward in Ann Arbor
November 2009

236 Ward 1   9.9%
678 Ward 2  28.4%
390 Ward 3  16.3%
551 Ward 4  23.1%
533 Ward 5  22.3%

Total 2,388

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Ward 5 accounted for a greater relative percentage of the total absentee vote in the November 2009 general election than it does in the early requests for ballots for the Aug. 3, 2010 primary, but it’s still relatively early in the ballot request season – the daily AV report for Monday, June 21 added another 49 names and addresses.

How Many Is a Lot of Absent Voters?

Based on the general election of November 2009 and the early absentee ballot application numbers, it looks like the absentee voter numbers for the Aug. 3 primary will, on the very conservative side, be at least 2,000. Is that a lot?

Viewed through the lens of the last two Democratic mayoral primaries, 2,000 votes works out to be roughly the difference between a clear victory and a virtual dead heat.

In 2008, when Tom Wall challenged John Hieftje for mayor, Wall received 3,394 votes to Hieftje’s 7,447. Shift 2,000 votes to Wall and Wall would have still been short – 5,394 to 5,447 – but not by much.

Two years earlier in 2006, when Wendy Woods challenged Hieftje, she received 2,913 votes to Hieftje’s 6,703.  Shift 2,000 votes to Woods and Woods would have prevailed 4,913 to 4,703.

So it’s fair to say 2,000 votes is a lot of votes. It’s easy to understand why candidates for public office in Ann Arbor “work the absentees,” using the daily AV lists – they’re not just almost certain to vote, their numbers are great enough to have a potential impact on the election.

The Penalty of Law

The kind of on-demand absentee voting advocated by Jeff Irwin at the city Democratic Party candidate forum does not currently exist. Absent voter ballots require “application” because Michigan does not currently allow for absentee voting for no reason. An exhaustive list of justifiable reasons that can be checked on the absentee ballot application is:

• age 60 years old or older
• unable to vote without assistance at the polls
• expecting to be out of town on election day
• in jail awaiting arraignment or trial
• unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons
• appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.

The application notes that “A person making a false statement in this absent voter ballot application is guilty of a misdemeanor.” And a call to the state’s Bureau of elections confirmed that the check on the accuracy of statements – including the reason cited justifying the right to vote absentee – is the application itself. In signing the form, an applicant for a ballot is attesting: “I declare that the statements in this absent voter ballot application are true.”

Irwin isn’t alone in advocating for reform that would eliminate the need to commit to a reason for voting absentee. Archived on Washtenaw County clerk Larry Kestenbaum’s blog, Polygon, the Dancing Bear, is part of a Nov. 12, 2006 Ann Arbor News Q&A conducted by reporter Dave Gershman:

Q: What’s the trend you’re seeing in terms of absentee ballots?

A: Absentee ballots are being used more widely over time and you can see the percentage creeping up little by little, year by year. That may also have to do with the aging population as well. If you’re 60 years of age or older you’re automatically eligible to use an absentee ballot without having to state another reason.

And people certainly are aware of the fact that if you choose to vote absentee you can put down that, yes, you plan to be out of the jurisdiction on Election Day even if those plans later change. There has been a movement in the Legislature to enact basically freedom to use an absentee ballot instead of showing up in person without having to state a reason. That legislation, although supported by virtually all of the county and municipal clerks in the state and supported by the secretary of state, did not move forward in the Legislature in the last couple of years. It may in the next one.

Q: And you support that?

A: Oh, absolutely. … If people want to vote absentee they should be able to vote absentee, and the notion of swearing to a reason is really pretty superfluous.

That Q&A was published four years ago. But in response to a recent emailed query, Kestenbaum says: “All those things are still perfectly valid as far as I’m concerned.”

I think the case for on-demand voting is pretty straightforward: it would remove various barriers to participating in democracy. On-demand absentee voting would eliminate the need to make your vote on a specific day, the need to stand in a possibly long line, the need to brave possibly inclement weather, the need to arrange transportation to a polling place, among other barriers.

I don’t think on-demand absentee voting would be a grand-slam home run for democracy. I don’t think that such voting by itself would increase participation in the Ann Arbor August primaries a whole lot, beyond the roughly 14% of registered voters who decided the 2008 mayoral primary.

But improving our democratic process is not about hitting home runs – it’s about getting base hits. And on-demand absentee voting is like a solid base hit, straight up the middle.

For now, you need a reason for voting absentee. Planning an out-of-town excursion on election day – to a Tigers game – just so you can vote absentee might seem a little elaborate. But at least it means you’re planning to vote.

Absentee ballots can be requested by mail until the Saturday before the election. This year that’s July 31. The absentee ballot application form is available on the city clerk’s part of the city of Ann Arbor website. It can be sent via the full range of modern communication technologies: mailed; hand delivered to the city clerk’s office at 100 N. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104; faxed  to 734-994-8296; or scanned and emailed to cityclerk@a2gov.org.

Go Tigs.

About the writer: Dave Askins is editor of The Ann Arbor Chronicle.