League of Women Voters of Michigan co-president: State’s election will be trustworthy | The Michigan Independent
Skip to content
A vote sign and American flag are shown outside a Michigan primary election location in Dearborn, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Since its formation in April 1919, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of Michigan has worked to empower voters and defend the state’s democratic system. With the November 2024 election already underway, the nonprofit organization’s co-president, Denise Hartsough, said she is very confident that it will be conducted fairly and accurately.

Hartsough, who has been active with the League for 30 years, spoke with the Michigan Independent on Oct. 21 about the strength of the electoral system she has observed and why voters should feel confident in the state’s election results.

“Every city or township has its own clerk, and we’re a very decentralized system in Michigan, so elections occur on a very, very local level,” Hartsough explained, noting that the clerks are elected in each township or city to run elections. “All those folks, they are the top election official in their jurisdiction, and so then they’re responsible for finding the people to work at the polls — they’re called election inspectors — and they have to get people to be part of the absent voter counting boards to process and tabulate the absentee ballots.”

Hartsough said that Democratic, Republican, and trained nonpartisan observers watch the voting process and flag any concerns. Local boards of canvassers, teams of two Democrats and two Republicans, work in tandem with the clerk once the polls close to double check that the totals of scanned paper ballots are accurate and match the number of voters recorded.

Representatives of the league often watch that happen. “We go and observe that process in as many places as we can cover in the state. We’re there to affirm their good work and just to let them know that the public cares what they’re doing, cares about all the hard work that they’re doing. So we do that, and it’s kind of boring, but boring is good. Boring means the process is working properly,” she said. “It is usually not contentious. It’s usually very cooperative.” 

“I have every confidence that it will reflect the views of the electorate in Michigan,” Hartsough said of this year’s election. “I feel like the system is very strong. I think the leadership and all the way down to the township level, everybody is trying their best.” 

Hartsough called Michigan’s system very secure and affirmed that people can feel very confident about it. 

She offered a suggestion for people who are concerned about the election process: “Participate in the process or observe the process. That is the best way to understand how carefully set up it is and how well it’s implemented.”

Related articles


Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter

The Michigan Independent is a project of American Independent Media, a 501(c)(4) organization whose mission is to use journalism to educate the public, giving them the information they need about local and federal issues.