Detroit voters, faced with a near guarantee that Democratic President Joe Biden will again face Republican former President Donald Trump, are using Tuesday’s primary election to signal their priorities for the 2024 contest.
Polls are open for in-person voting from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Feb. 27, and residents can turn in absentee ballots at drop boxes until 8 p.m. New state laws allowed thousands of Detroiters to vote before Election Day, including 2,256 who cast ballots at early voting centers and 18,787 who submitted absentee ballots as of Monday evening.
Voters can find their polling place online. There are 167 voting locations serving 400 precincts in Detroit. Residents will be asked to show their identification but can also confirm their identity by signing an affidavit.
Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey anticipates 12% to 17% of Detroit’s registered voters will take part in the presidential primary. That would be a significant downturn from the 2020 primary, where 23% of Detroit voters cast a ballot.
“I’ve always believed that Election Day should not just be that first Tuesday, I’ve always believed you’ll have a hardier turnout if you open that process up,” Winfrey said during a Feb. 23 press conference. “That’s why we started satellite voting. We wanted the board of elections and legislators to see Detroit is ready for this. The bump to create early voting was one of my goals.”
Fewer voters generally participate in primaries – turnout doubled in the general election four years ago. Lower turnout is also expected in part because the outcome of the primary is considered to be a foregone conclusion. Trump and Biden are all but assured to become their party’s nominees and repeat the 2020 matchup that came down to a few key swing states.
‘Disconnected’ from Biden
City Council President Mary Sheffield said Detroiters feel disconnected from the Biden administration, which hasn’t had any major events in Detroit ahead of the primary. She’s been in communication with his campaign and the Democratic National Committee about promoting how $826 million in federal pandemic relief has impacted Detroit.
Sheffield said she’s “definitely pushing for Biden” but the Democratic Party needs to do a better job of engaging voters, particularly young people.
“We expect them to vote but why would they when they don’t feel like they’re part of the process and their issues are being addressed,” Sheffield said. “When we talk about getting young people to vote, it can’t just be (a message of) register, register, register. It has to be consistent engagement.”
Janis Hazel, a member of Detroit’s reparations task force, said Biden’s silence on a federal reparations initiative has left some Black voters feeling left behind after the president relied on their votes four years ago.
She’s voting for author Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign but remains on the Tuesday ballot. Hazel said the primary is a chance to send candidates a message, and Williamson has been a longtime supporter of reparations. She won’t support Biden unless he decides to enact a federal reparations commission through executive order, Hazel said.
“We got (Biden) over the finish line in 2020,” Hazel said. “It’s not that we’re apathetic or will vote for Trump. He’s ignoring us.”
Williamson visited Detroit’s west side Sunday for a reparations awareness event at Shrine of the Black Madonna. She said competitive primaries are important because they create a forum for important conversations within political parties. Biden is a “weak candidate” who hasn’t had to explain to Michigan voters what he’d do with another four years, she argued.
“A lot of people might appear apathetic but that’s not what is going on,” said Williamson, arguing that the Democratic Party has tried to shut down alternative candidates. “That’s how we got Trump to begin with, such a smug, arrogant dismissal of what was going on inside people.”
A ‘wake-up call’
Michigan Democrats are closely watching the share of voters who select “uncommitted” in the primary as a rebuke of Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Arab American and Muslim activists launched a protest campaign in the last weeks of the election to show Biden the electoral consequences of refusing to call for a cease-fire.
Detroiter Brian Rohde, a 37-year-old project manager, is one such voter.
“I voted uncommitted because of Gaza. I heard about the campaign to do the uncommitted vote, and I’m for it,” Rohde told BridgeDetroit after voting at the Murray Wright High School Campus, adding he wished he had someone to vote for besides Biden.
“I think I’m not alone in thinking he’s a little old. Am I gonna vote for him in the general? Of course I am,” he said. “I feel like this isn’t much of a democracy right now, without any choices.”
Michigan is among battleground states where a handful of votes could decide the November general election. Biden beat Trump by just 3 percentage points in 2020, a difference of 154,000 votes. The outcome was even closer in 2016, when Trump won by just 10,700 votes.
Pontiac City Council Member Mikal Goodman has been working on the uncommitted campaign as co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America Detroit Chapter. Goodman said the intent is a “wake-up call” for how many voters Biden could lose in November.
“We know how this is going to end up, but we don’t know where (Biden) will be on this specific issue after the primary,” Goodman said. “The Democratic Party is not doing great, we’re always barely winning against fascism. Biden is risking a major state and a major constituency solely because he does not want to end aid to Israel. It’s an active choice.”
Goodman said it’s too late to win back some voters who are part of the uncommitted campaign, but others see November as a choice between “the lesser of two evils.”
Williamson said the fear of a second Trump administration isn’t enough to rally voters against him.
“It is very much a guilt trip, it’s also scolding and patronizing,” she said.
Jonathan Kinloch, a Wayne County commissioner and 13th District Chair of the state Democratic Party, said the choice will become crystal clear when Trump and Biden are facing each other.
“In the end, reasonable people who want to protect their ability to have democracy in America continue will vote for Joe Biden,” Kinloch said. “We who are descendents of slaves never tried to weaponize that act of democracy. It’s a pretty dangerous gamble. Protesters talking about dumping Biden fail to realize that (Trump) tried to throw out Wayne County votes (in 2020).”
Kinloch said Detroit voters recognize that having a good relationship with the White House has benefitted the city. He compared Mayor Mike Duggan’s partnership with Biden to an alliance between former Mayor Coleman Young and President Jimmy Carter.
“Republicans spent a lot of effort to discredit all of the things (Biden) has done,” Kinloch said. “All the economic signs show the country is continuing to be stable. Democrats keep their heads down and do the work. If you don’t tell your story someone else will. We have to get out there and have tough conversations.”
Embracing early voting
The Michigan Democratic Party’s Black Caucus, led by Detroit resident Keith Williams, endorsed Biden on Sunday night. Williams said the “huffing and puffing” is over a small constituency compared to a larger number of Black voters.
“Despite challenges, his leadership has been instrumental in steering the nation toward progress and building a fairer society for all Americans,” the caucus said in a press release. “Additionally, President Biden has made historic appointments that reflect his commitment to diversity and inclusion. He appointed the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and appointed 44 Black judges during his presidency, the most of any other president.”
Democratic candidates generally fare better in Michigan when turnout is high. Biden’s victory in 2020 came amid a record-breaking surge of votes – 5.5 million statewide. Michigan’s previous record was set in 2008 during former President Barack Obama’s commanding victory.
Detroit voters overwhelmingly supported Biden over Trump in November 2020. He also handily won the majority of Detroit’s votes in the Democratic primary, collecting 70,500 votes while 41,773 Detroiters voted for another Democratic candidate.
Biden had 14 opponents on the ballot four years ago. He is virtually unopposed this time. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn, is also on the ballot but he laid off most of his staff earlier this month.
Votes for alternative candidates still count, regardless of whether their campaigns are active. Neither Biden nor Trump stands alone on the ballot.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley held events in Michigan this week to steer Republicans away from another Trump candidacy while several other Republicans remain on the ballot despite suspending their campaigns.
Trump received 1,893 Detroit votes in the 2020 primary. He received only 5% of Detroit’s support in the general election.
Detroiters embraced early voting in large numbers. The number of Detroit residents who turned in absentee ballots before the primary quadrupled compared to 2020.
Winfrey said anecdotal observations suggested seniors prefer to vote using an absentee ballot while younger voters prefer to cast a ballot in person before Election Day.
More than 50,000 residents requested absentee ballots this year, compared to nearly 39,000 in 2020. The Department of Elections expects to tabulate 45,000 absentee ballots. More than half of the ballots were processed, but not counted, before Election Day.
Baxter said the clerk’s office is striving to balance all counting boards, which means the number of ballots matches the number of voters logged. Detroit balanced all precincts in the 2021 municipal election and 2022 gubernatorial election.
Baxter and Winfrey said they’re on guard for efforts to discredit Detroit’s results. Trump continued to promote false claims about election results during a February visit to Waterford Township in Oakland County, saying “we gotta watch Detroit.”
“Please watch Detroit, perhaps you can learn something,” Winfrey said. “We’re not afraid. We’re well-trained. This is what we do.”
BridgeDetroit reporter Jena Brooker contributed
