In an effort to increase voter turnout in the City of Muskegon, the Clerk’s office is taking it to the streets…as a new mobile voting trailer has been officially launched.
The new mobile voting trailer in Muskegon comes through a roughly $430,000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, and the goal is to drive around to various locations in Muskegon during this election season, and give people the opportunity to either register to vote, pick up an absentee ballot, or vote right then and there.
It's a bi-product of the City’s Clerk’s office, that says in 2016, only 54% of resident in Muskegon cast their ballots in the Presidential election. And with the coronavirus pandemic making it difficult to encourage people to come to the Clerk’s office to register, the idea is to take the Clerk’s office into the city to places like high rise apartment buildings, or public parks.
Ann Meisch is the City Clerk. She says, politics aside, there has never been a time she can remember where so many people have feared that their vote might not be counted.
“So I have been conducting elections for almost 30 years, and I have never seen what I am witnessing right now, of the fear that voters have, and that is something that I really wanted to address, which is where the trailer came along,” Meisch said. “You know people are afraid to use the post-office, it’s the first time I have ever experienced that, where voters have actually felt intentionally that their ballots might not be received or get to us, so we needed to answer those questions, we needed to try to provide alternative ways.”
Some of those alternative ways have been adding two additional drop boxes, while covering the cost of postage on all absentee ballots that are sent out. On Friday, the trailer will be docked at Muskegon Community College from 1:30 – 2:30, and at Smith Ryerson Park from 3-4. A complete schedule can be found at Muskegonvotes.Com.
