Polling locations in Royal Oak, Warren moved after weather-related outages

Shadowing a Michigan clerk on election day

There's no bigger day for a city clerk than election day and August's primary proved no different for Sonja Buffa, who managed weather-related outages and needed to shift several precinct operations to new locations.

(FOX 2) - Weather-related issues led to a minor disruption at polling places in metro Detroit after power outages led to the relocation of multiple precincts.

The disruptions were in Royal Oak and Warren. The outage impacted only a small number of people and voting was not interrupted, secretary Jocelyn Benson said during a Tuesday call with media.

Anyone in precincts two and three in Royal Oak would instead be voting at the Royal Oak Farmers Market, while those in precincts 32, 33, and 36 in Warren were relocated to Mott High School.

Benson pointed to the volume of early voting that took place ahead of the August Primary as a sign the electorate is taking advantage of options that make it more convenient to vote. It also enables voters to avoid minor disruptions like Tuesday's local outages due to weather.

"What it shows, essentially, is that if there are a few instances in which a few election locations are unable to operate as scheduled, our local clerks are able to quickly adjust and get that information out to voters," she said. "But we haven't seen any challenges erupt or occur as a result of those adjustments needing to be made."

The Secretary of State announced on Monday that 73,500 people voted at an early voting site while another 970,000 submitted an absentee ballot.

If someone has mailed in their absentee ballot, they can check the status of their vote by filling out information here. However, if they did fill out a ballot but have not mailed it in, they should hand deliver it to their clerk.

It's unclear what kind of turnout the August Primary will bring. Results won't be announced until 8 p.m. after polls close.