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Michigan vote tabulation mostly complete: Which ballots are left to count

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Michigan vote tabulation mostly complete: Which ballots are left to count


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Michigan’s top election official touted a successful 2024 election and said tabulation is mostly complete, earlier than it was four years ago.

There are, however, about 6,000 outstanding military and overseas ballots that will be added to the unofficial results if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by Nov. 12, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Wednesday during a news conference in Detroit. Although there were no significant and widespread counting issues, there was a hold up in uploading data onto Wayne County’s website late into Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning. The Bureau of Elections is working with the county to understand what happened, she said.

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“Certainly for close races that exist, the biggest and most significant … outstanding chunk of votes is coming from those overseas ballots and I’ll mention it’s not a guarantee that all 6,000 will return by Tuesday,” Benson said.

With 98% of estimated votes counted, Donald Trump won Michigan, according to the unofficial tally from the Associated Press. Trump received 50% of votes, compared with 48% for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Benson said it was too early for her to predict what it means that Trump is heading back to the White House.

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“There’s going to be a lot of conversations in the days ahead about next steps and what comes next,” Benson said. “But I see Michigan voters at this point, they’re very engaged and enthusiastic, perhaps have different opinions about the type of leadership they want to see but we see women continuing to win elections here in the states. We also see the issue of economics … being top of mind.”

In 2020, President Joe Biden won Michigan with 51% of the votes. Trump received 48% of the votes in the battleground state four years ago.

More than 5.5 million Michiganders voted. Currently, turnout on Election Day 2024 was about the same as it was four years ago as the department waits for other ballots, including overseas tallies, Benson said.

“This is our third straight election cycle where voters turned out in record numbers, and that’s what we’re seeing as a victory,” Benson said.

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Benson said 2.2 million voted from home, casting absentee ballots; 1.2 million voted early in person, and more than 2 million voted in person on Election Day. Nearly 22,000 people registered on Election Day, with many in East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Detroit, she said.

This year, Michiganders were allowed to vote early for the general election. Benson said her department expected half of the 1.2 million who showed up to vote during the early voting period.

“It was just a convenient option that people all around the state embraced. And that, to me, for us as election administrators, is really the biggest success story of this election,” she said.

Benson also said her department is aware of non-credible bomb threats that targeted polling locations in Washtenaw, Wayne, Genesee and Saginaw counties, which the FBI tied to Russia.

A couple hiccups in Macomb County

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said Wednesday morning there was a holdup with absentee ballot votes in Shelby Township. Just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, the county’s website did update with 100% of precincts reporting.

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According to the Secretary of State’s website, Shelby Township had 20,137 absentee ballots returned. The township was not on the state’s list of communities to preprocess absentee ballots.

“This is an example of why should you pre-tabulate, run through your problems,” Forlini said. “When you’re a community like Shelby Township, it makes sense, even if it’s one day before.”

The township also is where Clerk Stanley Grot is among a group of Michigan Republicans criminally charged for allegedly participating in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Grot was among those charged last year by the state’s attorney general for allegedly signing a phony certificate pledging the state’s Electoral College votes to Trump.

Last year, the director of Michigan’s Bureau of Elections notified Grot that he could no longer administer elections, including registering voters and issuing ballots. He also directed the township’s deputy clerk to perform election duties until further notice or until Grot is acquitted or has the charges against him dismissed. The case is still open, according to online district court records.

Grot easily won reelection as clerk Tuesday as he had no Democratic opponent in the township, which leans Republican. All of the GOP incumbents seeking reelection in the township − supervisor, clerk and treasurer as well as the four trustees − won, per unofficial results on the county clerk’s website.

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Forlini said there also was an issue with a memory stick with data from early voting in New Baltimore and those ballots, about 2,400, had to be rerun.

Forlini gave a “hats off” to Warren Clerk Sonja Buffa for getting results to the county in a timely fashion.

Buffa did not preprocess Warren’s absentee ballots, of which there were 25,439, per the Secretary of State’s website. He said Buffa, herself, brought in sticks with data, most of them about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. He said she made three trips “and we appreciate that.”

“People are waiting on these results,” Forlini said. “People want to know what’s going on. It’s about everyone who is waiting on information.”

There was concern from Warren city officials and others about Buffa’s decision not to preprocess the absentee ballots and about how quickly city election results would get to the county on election night, possibly holding up local, state and national results.

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Forlini said he personally picked up sticks from Chesterfield Township as part of a program provided by his office and the sheriff in which a sheriff’s deputy and county clerk’s employee will go to municipalities and pick up sticks with data — in a secure process − and get them to the county’s election department in Mount Clemens.

Forlini said it’s difficult to be compared to other counties that can modem in election results. He said his staff uploaded results as soon as clerks countywide were done with them and got them to the county, the third most populous in Michigan.



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UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26

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UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26


As the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates amid a cooling job market, the economy is poised for moderate growth in Michigan and nationally over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.

The national economy is projected to grow 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the unemployment rate averaging 4.2%, while growth may ease slightly in the near future due to a slowing labor market, the UM economists said in a U.S. Economic Outlook for 2025–2026.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s economy has slowed since spring, with heightened uncertainty due to the recent elections, the economists wrote in a Michigan Economic Outlook for 2025–2026. Both reports were written by Jacob T. Burton, Gabriel M. Ehrlich, Kyle W. Henson, Daniil Manaenkov, Niaoniao You and Yinuo Zhang.

“The U.S. economy has gone through times of great uncertainty before and emerged intact,” the economists wrote. “We are projecting that both Michigan and the nation will follow that path over the next two years.”

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Job growth in Michigan is expected to decline in the second half of the year, but grow moderately in 2025 and 2026.

“We believe the election results have amplified the uncertainty surrounding Michigan’s economic outlook,” the economists wrote. “We project a small dip in Michigan’s job count in the back half of 2024 to give way to moderate job gains in 2025 and 2026, but the outlook depends critically on uncertain policy decisions and the subsequent market responses.”

The economists expect job growth in the state to be strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality and government, while sectors including manufacturing and professional services are expected to remain stable.

“We are projecting the state economy to return to growth over the next two years as easier monetary policy and another round of tax cuts boost medium-term growth,” the economists wrote. “Michigan adds 19,000 payroll jobs next year and an additional 26,700 in 2026. The unemployment rate in Michigan is projected to fall from 4.6% in late 2024 to 4.3% by the end of 2026.”

The Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor metro areas showed a downward trend in job growth, with Detroit and Grand Rapids seeing 0.1% growth during the past year. Ann Arbor saw relatively stronger job growth of 1.3% as of September, according to the report. Metro-level data for October was not available for the report, officials said.

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The report attributes the underlying cause of the slowdown in Michigan’s job market as the Federal Reserve’s policy of monetary tightening to control inflation.

“Although the Fed has recently pivoted toward reducing short-term interest rates, we believe that real interest rates remain at a restrictive level and that the effects of the Fed’s past tight monetary policy continue to impact Michigan’s economy,” the economists wrote. “Indeed, in many ways, the national rebalancing in the labor market is precisely what the Fed hoped to engineer with its policy actions. Unfortunately for Michigan, our relatively rate-sensitive industry mix means that higher interest rates have taken a larger economic toll than nationally.”

The Michigan outlook points to stronger personal income growth, with per capita income increasing to $64,000 in 2024 and reaching around $68,500 by 2026, up 41% from 2019.

Inflation is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025 before increasing to 2.7% in 2026 due to new tariffs that the incoming Trump administration is expected to impose.

The U.S. and Michigan economic outlook reports follow the presidential election, which economists say will result in significant changes in U.S. economic policies. In the reports, the economists shared their thoughts on about the impacts of a second Trump administration.

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The recent election of Donald Trump as well as the Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and House will likely to result in a continuation of tax cuts Trump enacted during his first term, the economists said. Also expected is a sharp rise in tariffs on imports from China to take effect by 2026. 

While rising tariffs on Chinese imports and tax cuts for corporations and individuals are expected in upcoming years, revenue increases from tariffs are unlikely to offset revenue losses generated by tax cuts, according to the report. This could result in slower revenue growth and a sharp increase in federal deficits.

“As the stimulative effects of the expected tax cuts dominate the drag from the anticipated new tariffs, we project quarterly GDP growth to accelerate modestly during 2026, reaching a 2.5 percent annualized pace by 2026 Q4,” the economists wrote.

The report notes that the Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates after keeping them at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% for 14 months. The rate was reduced by 50 basis points in September and 25 basis points in November, bringing it to 4.5% to 4.75%.

Additional cuts will depend on economic data, with the economists expecting another 25 basis point cut in December.

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Looking ahead at next year, the economists say they expect the Fed to make four more 25-basis-point cuts in 2025 and reach a range of 3.25–3.5% by the end of the year.

“In our view, the temporary uptick of inflation related to tariffs will not prompt the Fed to tighten policy in 2026,” economists wrote. “We believe that risk management concerns related to the potential negative growth effects of tariffs, which played a role in the 2019 rate cuts, will balance the upside risks from new tax cuts, prompting the Fed to stand pat.”

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

@CWilliams_DN



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Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76

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Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76


Associated Press

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Quandre Bullock scored 20 points off of the bench to lead South Dakota past Western Michigan 80-76 on Wednesday night.

Bullock also contributed three steals for the Coyotes (5-1). Paul Bruns scored 18 points, shooting 6 for 13 (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Cameron Fens had 16 points and shot 7 of 9 from the field and 2 for 4 from the foul line.

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The Broncos (2-4) were led by Markhi Strickland, who posted 20 points and six rebounds. Western Michigan also got 13 points and six rebounds from Owen Lobsinger. Javaughn Hannah also recorded 12 points.

Bullock scored 12 points in the first half and South Dakota went into the break trailing 34-33. Bruns’ 18-point second half helped South Dakota close out the four-point victory.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Michigan to debut freshman running back vs. Northwestern

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Michigan to debut freshman running back vs. Northwestern


With all the talk about running back carries in recent weeks, Michigan is planning to work another player into the rotation this week.

True freshman Micah Ka’apana could make his season debut for the Wolverines in their game Saturday against Northwestern (3:30 p.m., FS1), head coach Sherrone Moore said this week.

On Monday, Moore raved about Ka’apana’s “dynamic speed” and said Michigan has plans to “put it on display a little bit this week,” signaling plans to get the Hawaii native touches as the season winds down.

Under revised NCAA rules, football players can appear in up to four games without burning a redshirt. Ka’apana has not played this season; instead spending much of it on the scout team.

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“He’ll be implemented into the game plan a little bit more this week,” Moore said on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show. “Very shifty, great contact balance. He’s small but he isn’t little. The dude plays with power — he’s strong — but he’s super fast.”

More: Ben Hall views himself as Michigan’s next RB1, and wants more carries to prove it

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Ka’apana is a former three-star recruit from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, where he put up big numbers during his final two seasons. The Hawaii native rushed for 723 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior, and topped 1,000 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior in 2022, while also catching 11 passes for 192 yards and four touchdowns.

Michigan (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) has spent the bulk of its disappointing season leaning on two backs, Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards. Redshirt freshman Benjamin Hall saw some playing time during the non-conference portion of the schedule, then got four carries in the loss to Indiana on Nov. 9.

Another true freshman, Jordan Marshall, has yet to receive a carry despite appearing in two games as a kick returner on special teams. Marshall will continue in that role this week, Moore said, while the Michigan staff takes a closer look at Ka’apana.

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“He had a game in high school where he had five carries and five touchdowns,” Moore said. “So the dude is really, really dynamic. Really excited to see what he does with the ball in his hands.”

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