KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Kalamazoo City Clerk Scott Borling says the city is doing everything it can to encourage voting in its citizens.
During a virtual city meeting Monday night, Borling spoke about some of the efforts that the city made, during which time a measure was approved to making voting more accessible.
The provisions in the measure include expanded hours for the City Clerk’s office regarding voting, as well as the installment of additional ballot drop boxes.
Furthermore, as part of the measure, a satellite City Clerk branch will be available on the campus of Western Michigan University inside the Bernhard Center. Although that branch would be on campus, Borling said it would be available for any registered voter to utilize.
The facets of the measure will be funded by a grant of around $56,000, which will cover the drop boxes and the staff hours.
“One of the main goals of doing this is to encourage voting among students, and also to hopefully reduce the lines we usually see at the Bernhard Center on election day,” Borling said. “There are two voting precincts that vote there, and especially in larger elections, the longest lines are always at the Bernhard Center. We’re hoping that by offering the satellite location on campus, that will give a good opportunity for students to be able to register to vote, get an absentee ballot and take care of that business well in advance of election day.”
Where the ballot drop boxes are concerned, Borling says existing drop boxes have been a success. Four more will be installed through the city, per the terms of the measure.
“We installed our first drop box behind City Hall just before the May election, and that has been very well received,” Borling said. “For the August election, on election day, we received back almost 1,000 ballots, and of those 1,000 ballots, between 700-800 of them came through that drop box behind city hall, so that’s been a great option for voters.”
Locations for the drop boxes are yet to be determined, but Borling confirmed they had been delivered at the end of last week. He added that was about three weeks ahead of schedule.
In regards to mailing a ballot, first class stamps will be applied to absentee ballot return envelopes so that returning a ballot will be free for the voter. Borling says the Secretary of State is offering reimbursement for the cost of return postage.
Overall, officials are encouraging voters to request their absentee ballots as soon as possible, and then return their completed ballots to the Clerk’s Office following.
Borling adds that these measures are only intended for the November election. Following that event, the Clerk’s office will host a public forum to collect feedback on what parts the voting process worked well, and what needs to be improved. The feedback from that meeting will help shape what options future elections will have.
He also confirmed that about 16,000 ballots need to go out by Thursday, and by Monday, 6,000 had been prepared.
Full details, including expanded hours, can be found by viewing city documents here.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State’s Office announced Tuesday that more than 2.3 million absentee ballot requests have been submitted as of Monday, September 21.
