Publius.Org Works With Michigan Secretary Of State’s Office To Publish Sample Ballots For Primary Election

DETROIT Not sure whats on your county ballot for the Aug. 3 Michigan primary election? Publius.Org for the first time has added primary sample ballots for 20 Michigan counties to the election information it produces for the Michigan Secretary of States Office that will provide voters with a sample ballot to take to the polls, which remain open until 8 pm.

Publius.Org Founder Vince Keenan said sample ballots for all the states counties will be on the Michigan.Gov/Vote site by the November general election, as they were in the 2002 election. The site also lets Michigan residents know if they are registered and where they can vote.

This is the first time weve ever done a primary, Keenan said. Our goal is to get the Michigan Secretary of States Office to do it for every election. There are only 20 counties that we have information for on the site now, but they represent about 70 percent of the voting population.

For the August 3rd 2004 Primary, all statewide offices (including judges) are listed for ever voter in Michigan. In addition, complete sample ballots are online for Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Hillsdale, Berrien, Grand Traverse, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Washtenaw, Ingham, Calhoun, Livingston, Kent, Clinton, and Genesee counties.

In the primary election, voters can only vote straight ticket for Democrats or Republicans as a way to thin the field to one candidate for each party for the November general election. Voters can cast ballots for any judges or non-partisan offices.

Publius is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 by a group of students at UM lead by Keenan. The genesis was when Keenan when to the wrong polling place about a half hour before closing to vote. An experienced poll worker pointed him in the right direction.

I was real lucky he knew his stuff, he said. I also would have preferred to have been more prepared before I went into the polls. People dont think about mechanics of voting machine until they get there.

Keenan and his associates developed the software used to pull records from the voter registration data base. In 2002, much of that information, along with the software, was rolled into the Secretary of States web site. Publius now works as a consultant to the state to come up with new ideas on how to get more people to vote. Its funding comes from the state Bureau of Elections.