Voter Turnout Down in Every Oakland County Community, See How Your City / Township Did

Voter Turnout Down in Every Oakland County Community, See How Your City / Township Did

(Kurt Metzger, Aug. 12, 2024)

Oakland County, MI – In spite of the addition of early voting to that of absentee and in-person on election day, Oakland County registered voters showed up for the August 6, 2024 Primary in numbers greatly reduced from the Covid-driven turnout four years before.  In spite of having 63,000 more registered voters in 2024, the actual vote total dropped by just under 106,000, reducing turnout from 37 to 25 percent.

The chart below shows the turnout, ranked across the 51 Oakland County communities.  Villages are included in the Township totals.  At the top we have some of the perennial leaders – Huntington Woods, The City of Lathrup Village, Pleasant Ridge, Novi Township,  Bloomfield Township, and Lake Angelus.

Those at the bottom – Pontiac, Hazel Park, Holly township, Keego Harbor, Madison Heights, Walled Lake and Wixom – have been consistently low turnout communities as well.

While August 2020 turnouts ranged from 19.4 to 60.8 percent, the range for 2024 was only 11.8 to 40.2 percent.  Every one of the 51 Oakland County communities experienced a decrease, ranging from a low of -5.6 percentage points in Addison Township, and -7.6 percentage points in Keego Harbor and Pontiac, to highs of -27.9 percentage points in Keego Harbor and -20.6 in Huntington Woods.

 

Low turnout continues in lower income communities, with Holly Township, Hazel Park, and Pontiac being least engaged.

Pontiac’s election was one with major impacts as voters were asked to adopt a new City Charter.

The City Charter sets the rules for local government and the new charter modernizes parts of government that have changed since the last Charter was adopted in the 1980s.

The Charter passed with 3,084 Yes votes and 1,261 No votes.  While the win is nearly 2-1, the decision was made by 4345 people, far short of the 49,246 registered voters in the City.  The yes votes represent 6.3% of those registered voters.

Low turnout happened across Michigan.   This low turnout in a state that has worked hard to make voting easier is in contrast to voters fighting for access in states that aim to make voting more difficult.

The challenge remains as the Nov. 5 election approaches. What more can be done to increase interest in being part of the democratic process?

Visit the Data-Based Stories Archives on Oakland County Times for stories on voter turnout, population shifts, Dogs of Oakland County, and other statistics-related stories, thanks to Data Expert Kurt Metzger.

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