Michigan
1.2M cast early, in-person ballots in Michigan ahead of Election Day
Lansing — About 1.2 million people voted at early, in-person voting sites across Michigan in the first presidential election where the state constitution allowed for the voting option.
The number of Michigan voters — updated by the Secretary of State’s office early Monday morning after the conclusion of early, in-person voting — represent more than one-fifth of the total who cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election. When the 1.98 million absentee ballots received as of Sunday night are added, the total number of early voters moves to about 3.2 million, or nearly 44% of active registered voters in Michigan.
The total number of early voters so far is on par with 2020, when roughly 3.2 million people voted absentee ballots during the pandemic. A total of nearly 5.6 million voted in that presidential election.
A constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2022 requires all clerks to offer at least nine days of early, in-person voting ahead of Election Day, a mandate that resulted in the majority of communities offering early voting from Saturday, Oct. 26 through Sunday. Three communities opted to open voting centers earlier: Detroit, Canton Township and East Lansing.
Some of the highest numbers of early, in-person voters turned out in Detroit, with a final tally of 42,902 people voting sites in the state’s largest city. Additionally, Detroit has received back about 89,000 of roughly 109,000 absentee ballots sent, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“We knew they would be eager for it,” Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey said Sunday of early, in-person voting. “This is our first year doing it in Detroit. It started out slow — you know, the presidential primary, was slow — but I am so pleased with turnout.”
Winfrey said lines for early voting topped out at about an hour and 10 minutes, but voters weren’t deterred by the wait.
“It’s impressive to see,” Winfrey said. “Everybody’s energy is high. Nobody’s mad about being in line. And that’s the part that I’m thankful for.”
Rural turnout
Chris Ferguson was among the more than 1.2 million who cast a ballot in-person at an early voting site in Shiawassee County. The 59-year-old Owosso teacher stopped at Owosso City Hall on Sunday to cast a ballot while running errands.
Ferguson said she likely could have made time Tuesday to cast her ballot but decided to stop by on a day when she had less on her plate.
“Everybody that I know has voted early,” Ferguson said. “They just thought it was so nice, no pressure, convenient. I’m on my way to the grocery store and then I’m going to go home and rake leaves.”
Owosso City Clerk Amy Kirkland said Sunday afternoon that her office saw a marked uptick in early, in-person voters compared to the August primary.
“Our traffic has really picked up,” Kirkland said. “In August, we had 100 voters over nine days. The last time I checked downstairs, we had over 1,300 for this election. Early voting seems to have really caught on.”
The mid-Michigan city, which has about 12,200 registered voters, also issued about 2,500 absentee ballots, Kirkland said. She expects the use of early, in-person options to increase as more people learn of the option.
“I actually like early voting and, if it continues to grow the way I think it will, we may actually be able to cut down on our costs on Election Day,” Kirkland said.
In the northeast Lower Peninsula, Alpena Township Clerk Michele Palevich said Sunday that roughly 2,000 people have circulated through an early voting site the township is operating with the city of Alpena.
She was pleased with the early, in-person turnout, which was much steadier than the trickle the township saw in August. On one of the nine days of early voting in August, a total of six people visited the early voting site, she said.
“This is the first election where I’ve really seen the benefit of it, where we’re getting a good turnout,” Palevich said. “When we’re getting a good turnout, it feels beneficial. But when we’re getting days with just six voters, it doesn’t feel that beneficial.”
In southern Livingston County, Kristina Behm made good time Saturday getting through the line at her Putnam Township early voting center.
“It’s kind of nice to just get it done over the weekend and then you don’t have to go before work or after work or whatever,” said Behm, 31. “It’s great for people who have lives and things happen.”
Urban and suburban use
At Lansing’s Reo Road voting center Saturday afternoon, voters waited about 20 minutes to fill out their ballots — part of a steady stream of voters the city has seen over the nine days of early voting, City Clerk Chris Swope said. The capital city also had a second early voting site at Foster Community Center.
The city was one of several pilot communities to roll out early, in-person voting sooner than the rest of the state. Lansing offered some period of early voting ahead of its November 2023 election, the presidential primary in February, a city election in May and the August primary.
Early, in-person voting numbers were much smaller in those earlier elections, which typically have lower turnout than a presidential election, Swope said.
“It was really great to see it catch on and see voters coming out,” Swope said. “And it’s really just people coming all day long.”
In Kent County, each jurisdiction ran its own early voting centers, with Grand Rapids hosting four within the city alone, said Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons. Countywide, about 96,265 early, in-person votes were cast within Kent County, she said.
Lyons said she was relieved to see the early, in-person voting centers used after attendance was underwhelming in the February presidential primary and August primary. Participation in the county’s first day of early voting on Oct. 26 was double the February and August early, in-person voting tallies together, she said.
“I think early voting in Michigan has proven to work and proven to be secure,” Lyons said Sunday. “And the voters have proven that they are interested in it.”
Lyons said Kent County’s absentee numbers are down from 2020, but it’s hard to tell just yet if that’s an effect of the pandemic or voters shifting from absentee to early, in-person. Until a better trend is established, it’s difficult anticipate how each voting option will be utilized, she said.
“Things went smoothly, but we had lines,” Lyons said. “Not knowing where the baseline would be with this being our first large turnout election with early voting, we didn’t know what to expect.”
West Michigan wasn’t the only region experiencing lines at it’s early, in-person voting centers.
In DeWitt, 23-year-old Brayden Shaw walked into the city’s early voting site around noon only to walk back out again after seeing the line. Voters leaving the voting site said they had waited about an hour and 10 minutes in line.
Shaw said he planned to return later in the day or early Tuesday to cast his ballot. He said, next time, he may find a weekday to vote.
“I think it’s smart to cut down on lines on Election Day,” Shaw said. “But I think everyone has the same mindset to try and vote early because they think it’s going to be shorter lines. And then that just causes a backup.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s season came to an end just short of reaching the NBA Finals.
After another strong campaign, OKC battled the San Antonio Spurs, but fell in a seven-game series, missing two key players for most of the matchup.
Even with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, though, the Thunder’s primary issue against San Antonio was defending superstar Victor Wembanyama. Oklahoma City managed to slow down the 22-year-old in a few matchups, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to win the series.
Mark Daigneault’s team will now head into the offseason with a few opportunites to find answers to this problem, however. In addition to Williams and Mitchell returning to full health, which will be key for OKC, Thomas Sorber, the Thunder’s first-round pick in 2025, should be healthy after missing his entire rookie season with a torn ACL.
Oklahoma City also has two picks in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, and could add more young pieces to the roster.
A pair of recent mock drafts slotted Michigan big man Aday Mara to OKC, who could be an interesting option to try and combat Wembanyama’s size and length. Mara measured at 7-foot-3 without shoes at the NBA Combine, recording a 7-foot-6 wingspan, 9-foot-9 standing reach and weighing 259 pounds.
Given Wembanyama’s abilities, it seems unlikely that any rookie can fully counteract the MVP Finalist and Defensive Player of the Year, but Mara’s size would give OKC another matchup to try against the Spurs’ standout.
After two seasons at UCLA, Mara had a breakout season with Michigan, averaging 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 66.8% from the field. Mara earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and All-Big Ten recognition for his efforts, helping the Wolverines with a national championship in his lone campaign with the team.
Bryan Kalbrosky of USA Today slotted Mara to OKC with the No. 12 overall pick in this summer’s draft, while Cameron Salerno of CBS Sports projected the Thunder to trade the No. 12 and No. 17 selections for the No. 9 overall pick to draft Mara.
Kalbrosky also paired Tennessee’s Nate Ament with Oklahoma City at No. 17 overall. Ament recently said in an interview with Kevin O’Connor that he completed a predraft workout with the Thunder.
Ament measured 6-foot-9-and-a-half without shoes and notched a 6-foot-11-and-a-half wingspan, weighing 210 and recording a standing reach of 9-foot-1-and-a-half at the NBA Combine.
As a freshman at Tennessee, the former five-star recuit averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.
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Michigan
Ex-NFL All-Pro unimpressed by Michigan QB Bryce Underwood — who could become backup: ‘Don’t understand’
Former All-Pro NFL safety Eric Weddle is not a believer in Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood.
During an appearance on the “Zero 2 Sixty” podcast, Weddle, who attended the Wolverines’ spring practices, said that it would not be surprising if Michigan’s backup quarterback is playing instead of Underwood come this fall.
“Mark my words, I was out there for spring ball,” Weddle said. “Don’t be surprised if the backup [is] playing early because that Underwood kid, you know, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we’ll see.”
Weddle, who spent 14 seasons in the NFL with the Chargers, Ravens and Rams, explained that quarterbacks should be taught to play their position first, and be an athlete second, adding that this is what he tells his son, Gaige Weddle, who is a 2028 four-star QB recruit.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand, like it’s just quarterbacks in general, but I don’t understand how the position is not being taught like from the pocket,” Weddle said. “Like I try to coach Gaige that you are a quarterback first who can be an athlete.
“You’re not an athlete who plays quarterback…You get to the next level, everyone’s as fast as you, everyone’s as strong as you, like your mind, processing, pocket awareness, feel, and getting the ball out on time is what I’ve stressed to him most, as a quarterback.”
Weddle’s comments come after Underwood, the consensus No. 1-ranked 2025 QB recruit out of high school, had a somewhat underwhelming freshman campaign with Michigan.
Through 13 games with the Wolverines, Underwood, 18, threw for 2,428 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while posting a 60.3 completion percentage, helping lead Michigan to a 9-4 record.
He added 392 rushing yards with six scores on the ground.
Underwood also had a disappointing performance for Michigan in a 41-27 Citrus Bowl loss against Texas, passing for 199 yards — going 23-for-42 — with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Despite the poor showing, Underwood recently told reporters that he has high expectations for both himself and the Wolverines heading into the 2026 season.
“Just like the whole team, and everything that happened to us even after the season, I had to get over it,” Underwood said on May 21. “That was the only option we had. It’s the only option I had. We went through a lot, but I think we’re going to be more player-led this season.
“I feel like we are more of a team now.”
The Spartans have a plethora of players coming in for official visits this weekend.
Few are bigger than 4-star cornerback/wide receiver Gideon Gash.
Gash is a 6-foot-4, 205-pound speedster out of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, Michigan. He holds a 91 rating from 247Sports, which ranks him as the third-best recruit in Michigan for the 2027 class and the fifth-best athlete in the entire class. His 91 rating is also good enough to rank him as the No. 70 overall recruit in the nation.
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His composite score is nearly as good as it gets at 0.9701. That keeps him ranked as the fifth-best athlete in the recruiting class while moving him up to the second-highest-rated recruit in the state of Michigan. His composite score is also the 70th-best mark nationally.
If you’re reading this and thinking you thought the Spartans already had a Gash on the roster, you’d be correct. In fact, they have two.
Older brother Caleb Gash is a redshirt sophomore on the Spartan roster and plays safety for Joe Rossi and the defense. Then, earlier this year, another older brother, Samson Gash, signed his commitment to the Michigan State Spartans. Samson was ranked as the seventh-best recruit in the state of Michigan in the 2026 class and the No. 43 wide receiver in the country. So, in fact, there are already two Gash brothers on the Spartans’ roster, with Gideon still deciding where he wants to play following his final years of high school football.
The Gash brothers are certainly not new to the game. Their father, Sam Gash, enjoyed a successful football career of his own. He played at Penn State from 1987-1991 before being selected in the eighth round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. He also spent time with the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints during his NFL career. Gash was a Super Bowl XXXV champion and a two-time Pro Bowl selection. Following his playing days, he went on to coach in the NFL with the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers.
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Gideon Gash has been one of Pat Fitzgerald’s most important recruiting targets since arriving at Michigan State. Alongside Joe Rossi and James Adams, Fitzgerald has played a key role in the Spartans’ pursuit of the talented athlete. Based on the recruiting efforts so far, it appears Michigan State would prefer to see Gash on the defensive side of the ball, where he could line up alongside his older brother Caleb.
Gash was named the 2026 MVP of the Polynesian Bowl National Showcase & Combine after clocking a blazing 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
As a junior in 2025, Gash was a two-way standout for Detroit Catholic Central, helping lead the Shamrocks to a 14-1 record and a Michigan Division 1 state championship. He played both wide receiver and cornerback throughout the season.
On offense, Gash caught 19 passes for 540 yards, averaging 28.4 yards per catch, while scoring eight touchdowns. Defensively, he totaled 74 tackles, three tackles for loss, nine pass breakups, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He also added a kickoff return touchdown.
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In the state championship game against Cass Tech, Gash delivered one of his best performances of the season. He recorded six tackles and one pass breakup on defense while hauling in three receptions for 126 yards and three touchdowns on offense.
According to 247Sports, Gash currently appears warm on four programs: Michigan State, Texas Tech, Alabama, and Oklahoma. He also holds offers from Auburn, Boston College, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, LSU, Louisville, Michigan, Missouri, Northwestern, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
There is certainly no shortage of interest in one of the nation’s top athletes, meaning the Spartans will have to work hard to fend off some of the premier programs in college football.
Having two brothers already on the roster is a great starting point for Michigan State. However, it will take a strong official visit this weekend to continue building momentum and potentially put the Spartans in an even better position moving forward.
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