PAW PAW – The 2024 Presidential Primary election cycle was historical in more ways than one, according to Van Buren County Clerk Suzie Roehm, commenting on the election held Tuesday, Feb. 27.
“First, we implemented Early Voting for the first time in Michigan. In Van Buren County, we had 228 people vote at the Early Voting Site (the former Van Buren Cass Health Department building), and the turnout was from 21 of our 22 townships and cities. Through countless hours of planning, organizing, and training, it was a smooth implementation of a new voting option available to voters,” said Roehm.
She added, “Second, after the polls closed on election night and the township and city clerks were bringing their election results to the county clerk’s office at the Van Buren County Courthouse in Paw Paw, the storm hit (a tornado warning was issued at approximately 11 p.m.) Some local clerks had already been to the courthouse and left, some hadn’t arrived yet, but the majority of them were in the courthouse rotunda when the tornado warning was issued,” said Roehm. She continued, “In compliance with Van Buren County Emergency Procedures, all 22 people relocated to the basement and into the county clerk’s vault. I contacted Van Buren County Central Dispatch to let them know that we were in the building. We were in the vault for about an hour until the warning was lifted. Once we had the ‘all clear’, we returned upstairs and did what clerks do…. completed the election returns and reporting.”
She concluded, “It is one election we won’t soon forget!”
Thursday, November 21, 2024
