“We’re going around the state and guess what? Everybody is pretty confident in their jurisdiction and we’re trying to allay the concern that if you’re happy here, you should also be pleased that they’re doing this in the east side of the state or in the Upper Peninsula or in southwest Michigan.”
Engler is a member of the Democracy Defense Project, an organization led by former elected officials and leaders across eight states who strive to defend transparency, safety, security and validity in the nation’s electoral system. He toured DeVos Place, one of four early polling locations in Grand Rapids. Joining him was City Clerk Joel Hondorp and Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons.
“Our voters can be confident in our elections here because there’s paper record that can always be audited. It can be recounted. There’s a chain of custody logged for all of our ballots and there’s just checks and balances throughout the entire process.”
Hondorp said that early voting within Grand Rapids has gone smoothly, despite challenges the new process brings to the clerk’s office, including finding extra poll workers and locations.
“Instead of gearing up for one election day, we’re gearing up for eleven election days as we go through the process.”
Engler says from what he’s seen, Kent County residents can be confident in the security of their election.
“All of these things that would give you security about the election, they in fact are in place here.”
