Vote on Tuesday!

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow, Tuesday, November 7th! Polls open at 7 am and close at 8 pm. On the ballot in the Village and all four Townships are a county-wide proposal for a new millage to fund improvements in mental health treatment, fund the County’s Sheriff’s Department and communities who maintain their own police forces, and a Washtenaw Intermediate School District Proposal for the renewal of the special education millage. Sharon Township voters will also have a township-wide proposal on their ballot to renew their fire protection & EMS service millage. Residents in Bridgewater and Freedom Townships in the Saline School district will have two School District proposals on their ballot as well, one to levy a millage to create a “sinking fund” for large capital expenses, and the other to levy a millage to for public recreation and playgrounds.

Wording for the county’s proposal 1, Intermediate School District proposal and the Saline Schools proposals are available here. The wording for the Sharon Township proposal is as follows: “For the purpose of reauthorizing and continuing funding to provide fire protection and emergency medical services within Sharon Township, shall the Township levy a renewal millage of .4994 mills ($0.4994 per $1,000 of taxable value) for a period of five (5) years, 2018 through 2022 inclusive? If approved and levied in full, this millage renewal will raise an estimated $ 46,347.00 in the first taxable year to continue to provide and support fire protection and emergency medical services in the Township, all or a portion of which may be disbursed to other local emergency units of government for emergency services as determined appropriate by the Township Board.”

This election will be the first election using the new voting equipment. This summer, all polling places in Washtenaw, including in the Manchester area, switched over to the Hart InterCivic’s Verity Voting system. This includes new ballot tabulators, accessible devices for voters with disabilities, and election management software. For the first time, voters with hearing, visual, physical and other disabilities will all be able to independently vote a ballot in complete privacy.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.