Joel Hondorp

As the Grand Rapids City Clerk, I, along with my colleagues across the state, have the privilege and responsibility of helping protect democracy by ensuring Michigan’s elections are fair and accurate.

Michigan has about 1600 clerks in cities and townships across the state who carry out this sacred work. We, along with our staff and community members, help carefully administer our elections. Together, we do it to the letter of the law as we ensure every eligible vote is accurately counted.

I can say with complete confidence that our elections are safe, secure, fair and accurate.

And I’m far from alone in believing that.

A recent survey by the University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy found that 95 percent of the people most directly responsible for election administration are “very confident” in their jurisdiction’s ability to conduct fair elections.

Notably, that certainty crosses all 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.

Unfortunately, the survey also found that the general public is not as convinced as we are that Michigan’s elections are fair, and the results accurate.

Despite overwhelming confidence in their local government’s ability to carry out elections, only two-thirds (65%) of local election officials believe their residents are “very confident” of the accuracy of elections in their community, according to the report.

This is one of the biggest concerns election administrators have according to the UM study – the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation about our elections. Politicians who continue to wrongly deny the validity of the 2020 election results, and keep raising concerns that have no factual foundation, bare much of the blame for the sowing of baseless doubts.

Here’s the truth: Me, like hundreds of other clerks across Michigan, in a system that is deliberately decentralized, work with dedicated staff and community members who keep our elections safe.

Transparency is key.

We’re not just completely open about the process – we actively seek media scrutiny and the involvement of community members, who can see for themselves the safeguards in place by becoming part of the process, either as poll challengers or poll workers. You can learn more about both roles here.

Our elections are safe and fair because we, as a community, make sure they are.

If you are not already part of the process – especially if you have any doubts about it – now is the time to engage. You can see for yourself how democracy works as you are, at the same time, helping strengthen it.