By Genesee County Clerk and Register of Deeds Domonique Clemons
As Genesee County Clerk & Register of Deeds, I, along with my colleagues across the state, have the privilege and responsibility of helping protect one of our most fundamental rights: the right to vote.
That is why I am excited to see a new report, from the University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, examining how local officials across our state feel about their ability to administer fair and accurate elections. The continuation of a project that began in 2009, this survey contains results that are reassuring in many ways. Most notable, but not at all surprising, is the certainty local election officials have in our ability to produce accurate election results every single year.
“Among township and city clerks, who are most directly responsible for election administration, 95% are ‘very confident’ in their jurisdiction’s ability to conduct elections accurately,” according to the report.
Even more notable is that this confidence crosses party lines.
“Confidence in local election administration is consistently high across jurisdiction sizes and similar among Republican, Democratic, and Independent local officials,” according to the report. “Across every partisan group, just 1% or fewer say that they are ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ confident in their jurisdiction’s ability to administer an accurate election this fall.”
In other words, Michiganders who’ve been elected to protect our state’s voting process and guarantee accurate results are close to unanimity in knowing that we are up for the job. Those of us who have dedicated our careers to this work overwhelmingly believe in the systems that are in place.
Unfortunately, the report also reveals a troubling disconnect; the general public is not as convinced as we are that Michigan’s elections are fair, and the results accurate.
“Despite overwhelming confidence in local government’s ability to conduct elections, only two thirds (65%) of local officials believe their residents are ‘very confident’ of the accuracy of elections in their community,” according to the report.
This is in large part due to a high degree of misperception among voters stemming from politicians who continue trying to cast doubt on the 2020 election results, although many of those politicians won their own local elections. The most prominent of these deniers is of course, the President of the United States, who keeps promoting lies and conspiracy theories about the outcome, which have been disproven time and time again. Even though those accusations have been thoroughly debunked both in Michigan and nationally, the fear mongering persists because President Trump and his allies believe they can alter truth and history by spreading unfounded fears instead of facts.
Facts like this: Michigan’s elections are built on checks, balances, transparency, and the participation of people from across our communities. Elections are administered locally by city and township clerks and their staff, alongside trained community members who serve as election workers and observers. These folks represent both the Democratic and Republican parties and work tirelessly to ensure every step of the process is carried out according to law and subject to public scrutiny.
It is also important to note that Michigan has one of the most decentralized election systems in the country. With 83 county clerks and more than 1,600 city and township clerks across the state all operating under the scrutiny of citizen poll workers and observers claims of election rigging are absurd.
Despite that, and all the other safeguards built into Michigan’s election system, clerks like me still find ourselves in a position where we need to debunk the propaganda being spread by people who value political power above rule of law.
One of the respondents to the survey summed the situation this way:
“The rise of election misinformation and the resulting distrust in democratic systems have fundamentally shifted the landscape for municipal clerks and election officials. What was once a largely administrative, behind-the-scenes role has become a high-stakes, public-facing position that requires navigating a ‘hyperpartisan’ environment.”
Having to spend considerable time combatting false information distracts from the vital election work we have been entrusted to carry out. As this report highlights, we are already under-resourced and underfunded. Responding to baseless attacks only makes our job even more difficult. The important takeaway here is that Michiganders have the means to counter the fear mongers and fabricators, and it begins with each of us casting a ballot this November.
Participating in democracy is the best way to defend it.
Beyond voting, I also encourage members of our community to become even more involved in the process by signing up to be poll workers and observers, who carefully monitor the election process to ensure it is followed to the letter of the law. If you have doubts about the election process, then get involved firsthand rather than trusting conspiracy theories based only on false information and inflated egos.
Speaking not only for myself, but my fellow clerks as well, we firmly believe that transparency is vital, and that your participation isn’t just welcomed. It is crucial.