A Michigan Primary. (Just move on.)

<---See also: "Go Vote" and "What’s Left of the Michigan Primary."

It’s Tuesday evening. Have you cast your vote?

Michigan’s second primary, which present voters with citizens who want to run for state offices, was held today. Well, the far western counties in the U.P. still have about 20 more minutes as I am writing this.

As I have mentioned more than once before, I do not vote in primaries and this event was no exception. Plus there’s only a few offices I’d vote for anyways. For those who do not know about Michigan voting system here we go:

As you may well know, in November we have an election that will decide who the next president will be. Also on our ballots will be all the offices that are up for grabs all the way down to our lowest and local offices. Depending on where a person is registered, they may be voting for President, Governor, a Congressman (or Congresswoman), a Senator, all the way down to township clerk or what have you. But before all that happens, we have primaries where the Democrats and Republicans will vote on who will be on the ballots. Now the primaries for the presidency is already done. That’s why we all know that it will be down to Senators Obama and McCain. The primaries for the state offices—Senators, Governors, and such are being held today.

If you are one to participate in a primary, you first decide whether you want to vote on the Republican section or the Democrat section. After choosing which party you are going to “belong” to, you are then presented a list of names of the people who are running for a particular office. You get to choose one name (in most cases). The winners of the primaries then go on to face each other in the November election.

There now that we got that settled (hopefully)…

On the ballot that I would have voted for there are only a few offices that need a decision by the voters. All other positions only have one person in them which means that they guaranteed to be the candidate (and locally—the office holder but I’ll get to that in a minute).

So in the Republican section the big seat that is up for grabs is the Michigan 78th District for the Michigan House of Representatives. Four people are competing for that: Bill Baber, Gary Campbell, Bruce Hipshear, and Sharon Tyler. Bill Baber had been running against State Rep. Neal Nitz in the past so he’s got established name recognition. However, Sharon Tyler has had a clear edge when it comes to campaign materials. My mother has made her choice with Gary Campbell simply because he rang on our doorbell one day. Apparently being the first to talk to my mother will guarantee her support. The other offices with competition are County Drain Commissioner, County Commissioner, Township Supervisor, and Township Trustees.

Democrats in this area didn’t even need to show up. The only candidates on their section have no competition. In fact, they only have names for three offices: United States Senator (Sen. Carl Levin), Representative in Congress (Rep. Upton), and Michigan 78th District for the Michigan House of Representatives. All county and township spots are going uncontested by the Democrats.

The battle to be U.S. Senator and Congressman is pretty much safe for the incumbents. Senator Levin (D) and Congressman Upton (R) are in safe seats. The hottest seat I think is the 78th District seat. The 78th District has been slowly and steadily leaning toward Democratic and I am seeing quite a bit of Judy Truesdell.