Lisa Posthumus Lyons: Kent County has always been, we've been very fortunate to have an abundance of dedicated election inspectors, but with changes in the election laws that voters passed, particularly dealing with early voting, combined with the fact that this presidential primary coming up February 27th is in the winter when a lot of our election workers are snow birding down south, that has really created a need for additional election inspectors.
Patrick Center: What are the numbers by comparison? If you could go back a few years and where we are today, what is the need?
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: Kent County, we generally, we train and utilize anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 election inspectors every cycle. And that number has not dropped. We were fortunate again, even to make it through the pandemic with the election inspectors that we needed. But we now need more to join the ranks of those who are playing this important public service simply because just early voting alone means we're going to need about just over 170 additional election workers.
Patrick Center: So, explain what has changed with the process when we talk about early voting behind the scenes what needs to take place.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: So, in 2020 voters passed Proposal 2 which was sweeping election reforms. Part of Proposal 2 was the provision for early voting statewide. So that means there will be in every jurisdiction, there's at least nine days where voters can go and cast a ballot before election day. And that's not absentee. We still maintain no reason absentee voting, 45 days before the election. We still maintain that. We maintain the election day voting at the polls, but now voters have the option to go and cast their ballot early, at least nine days ahead of time. And here in Kent County, we will be doing early voting in every jurisdiction nine days before election day. And so that means we have to have boots on the ground in every one of these jurisdictions to assist voters because election inspectors are paid positions and they're trained to work the precincts on election day. They process absentee ballots in the absentee counting boards, and now they'll be running early voting sites.
Patrick Center: So, what are some of the requirements that you seek from the election inspectors?
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: Requirements to be an election inspector are that you have to be a registered voter. However, if you're 16 or 17 in Michigan, you can also serve as an additional election inspector. You have to submit election inspector application to the local clerk, and you can't be a candidate on the ballot, a poll challenger or the immediate family member of a candidate whose name is on the ballot in that jurisdiction. Also, state law requires that there are Republicans and Democrats. So there's at least one election inspector of both major political parties to be present at the polling location.
Patrick Center: They also need to be trained.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: Training is a requirement, and so what we're doing, we are hoping that anybody interested in participating in the electoral process to please apply for the role of election inspector. You can find an application at KentCountyVotes.com on our website. The site also has our training schedule. We're responsible for making sure all of our election workers are properly trained so they can go into their roles with confidence and know what their expectations are and how to assist in that process. So training is going to be starting next week and will run through mid-February prior to the presidential primary. So, we're just urging anybody who wants to apply, find that application at KentCountyVotes.com or get with your city or township clerk.
Patrick Center: What kind of a background check do you perform?
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: There's no requirement that background checks be conducted, but this is a very noble public service that our election inspectors provide and we take it very seriously. They have a tremendous responsibility. We want to make sure that anybody who is working our elections have the utmost integrity. And part of that means that you are willing to sign an oath that you will support the Constitution and that you will uphold and operate under the laws of the state. And if you don't, then you're subject to criminal prosecution.
Patrick Center: What is your window? You mentioned the primary. How quickly do you need to get 170 people trained and ready to go.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: We'll be working on that throughout this entire month, leading up to the presidential primary. Obviously, it's not something that we have one and done. If people are interested in serving as an election inspector, but they can't, for whatever reason, work the presidential primary in February, we do trainings prior to our other elections as well. So, there will be more trainings. leading up to the August primaries, the November general. And what we'll do is these individuals will join trainings for our current election inspectors whose certifications have run up and they also need to be retrained as well. And so, this is just a really great opportunity for people who are interested in the process or who want to be a part of this awesome election system that we have to really get in, learn the system, learn how it works from the front. you know, before election day all the way to after election day. It really is a great opportunity for people to learn the election process so they can have more confidence in it.
Patrick Center: Kent County Clerk Lisa Postumus-Lyons thank you so much.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons: You bet.