2024 marks the third election for the Western Michigan University branch of the Kalamazoo city clerk’s office.
Located at the Fetzer Center, Clerk Scott Borling said the branch assisted 24 people in its first week of operations.
This mostly entailed answering questions, but also issuing absentee ballots and registering voters.
Borling said in its first week the office had more traffic than the first week it was open during the 2022 midterms. But it had fewer visitors than its first week during the last presidential election in 2020.
Borling said the lower turnout may be due to the variety of new options voters have to register or gain other information about the upcoming election.
"We're not sure what voter behavior will be like. We're not sure how many will vote absentee, how many will early vote. And there's a lot of information out there," he said.
The office may also see a boost now that the deadline for online and mail-in voter registration has passed, meaning registration must be done in-person, but Borling is unsure if this will have an effect.
“How many people are still out there who do need to register to vote or update their registration? We don't know that. We just want to be available so we can make it happen," he said.
Elections Manager Amanda McMillon is stationed at the branch.
She said she hopes things will pick up as we get closer to the election.
“If you if you are already registered, wonderful. But if you can get registered, the sooner, the better.”
The branch office will be open through Election Day, November 5.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
