By Corey Williams | The Associated Press
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DETROIT — Thousands of people lined up at Michigan polling places Tuesday, some waiting nearly five hours to cast ballots in what election officials predicted could be a record turnout for the historic U.S. presidential contest.
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land had forecast that about 70 percent of the state’s about 7.5 million registered voters would cast ballots in the election that featured the first African-American presidential candidate from a major party.
“This is making people come together,” said second-grade teacher Lawanda Anner after waiting three hours to vote at Detroit’s Henry Ford High School.
She snapped a picture of her 18-year-old son and seven of his friends, who turned out to cast their first presidential ballots.
Anner said the long wait was a sign that “people know to make it better, you have to vote now.”
Sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures expected to reach the mid-70s also encouraged voters to turn out.
The Secretary of State’s office reported “minor” malfunctions of tabulators jamming when ballots are inserted. But those are fixed right away, spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said.
Some voters also complained that the tabulators full of ballots weren’t working. The tabulators were down temporarily until the counted ballots could be removed, Chesney said.
“We’ve had to swap out a few of our tabulators. But no widespread problems,” she said. “We do experience some equipment issues … but they’re being addressed as they occur.”
Long lines formed at several polling places in Detroit — where some voters in anticipation of long lines brought collapsable lawn chairs, newspapers, iPods and MP3 players. City Clerk Janice Winfrey had predicted 65 to 70 percent of the predominantly black city’s 632,000 registered voters would cast ballots before polls closed at 8 p.m.
Brenda Moore, 51, said waiting in line for almost five hours to cast her ballot was frustrating but gratifying. The Detroit resident said she got in line at 10 a.m. and walked away from her precinct at Beth Eden Missionary Baptist Church on Detroit’s east side at 2:50 p.m.
“The line was wrapped around the church parking lot,” Moore said. “It’s terrible. This is the biggest district. It should be broken up.”
At about 3:30 p.m., the line had shortened to about 100 people.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined more than 100 others waiting in line outside a Lansing elementary school to cast her ballot Tuesday morning.
In western Michigan’s Ottawa County, turnout was “very good” at Spring Lake Wesleyan church, said poll worker Pat Misner. She said by noon, 700 people had voted in person and 600 cast absentee ballots out of 2,450 registered voters.
In neighboring Kent County, Clerk Mary Hollinrake said turnout could reach 78 percent.
In the majority black Detroit suburb of Southfield, hour-plus-long lines snaked through the halls at Brace-Lederle K-8 School. People fanned themselves with political literature as they waited to enter the gym to vote.
Wayne State University nursing student Audrey Glenn, 19, spent four hours waiting to cast her vote, in part because Southfield election officials couldn’t find her name on their lists.
“But it was all worth it,” she said.
Glenn said she was casting her first presidential vote in honor of her late grandmother, who remembered the struggle in the South for black voting rights.
“She moved from Mississippi and said it was very hard down there to register blacks to vote,” said Glenn.
Southfield election officials brought out chairs from classrooms to let those who needed sit. They also propped open doors to allow greater circulation as the temperature rose.
Cars jammed the parking lot and spilled over into a nearby field.
In Saline, a mostly white city about 40 miles west-southwest of Detroit, 90 people were waiting to enter First United Methodist Church before the poll opened at 7 a.m.
About a dozen voters were in line shortly before noon at Eaton County’s Dimondale Elementary School just southwest of Lansing. Local election officials had increased voting stations from the usual eight to 10 to 15, and even during the early morning rush, no one had stood in line for more than 15 minutes.
Despite an expected turnout of more than 90 percent, Windsor Township elections officials also reported no problems Tuesday. But voting is “a ton heavier,” precinct chairwoman Marcie Dailey said.
“We’ve been totally busy since 7 o’clock,” Dailey said. “We had a guy in line at 5:30 this morning.”
Voter turnout also has been steady at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, city clerk spokeswoman Marilyn Wixson said.
The clerk’s office received about 3,600 new registrations from Central students in the six weeks leading up to the election, she said.