How did the Manchester Area Vote? 2022 General Election local results
Political yard signs line both sides of the road outside of the Manchester Township Hall last Tuesday, polling place for Manchester Township residents.
by Sara Swanson
Last Tuesday, the Manchester area, like the rest of the country, went to the polls to vote in the midterms. Turnout was high, absentee ballots were down from two years ago, and many of the races were very close!
Schoolboard
While the statewide races were at the top of many of our minds during last Tuesday’s election, the Manchester Community Schools school board race was also keeping residents on the edge of our seats. In the end, incumbents Michael Tindall and Rebecca Harvey will retain their seats and will be joined on the school board by Sandra Wiitala, defeating Eric Coval, Julie Lutton, and James Stewart. Tindall received a total of 1,989 votes, Wiitala received 1,979 votes, Harvey received 1,900 votes, Coval received 1,865 votes, Lutton received 1,286 votes, and Stewart received 836 votes.
The school board race was close and it was not clear who would be victorious until the final precinct was counted Tuesday night. In Manchester Township Precinct 1, Wiitala took first, Harvey took second, and Tindall took third; while in Manchester Township Precinct 2, Tindall and Wiitala took first and second with Coval in third. In Freedom Township, Coval took first by a large margin with Tindall taking second, and Harvey and Lutton tying for third. In Bridgewater Township, Coval placed first, with Wiitala and Tindall only two votes apart in second and third places. However, the closest race was in Sharon Township where 4 votes separated the first place candidate from the fourth place candidate as Harvey received 360 votes, Wiitala received 359 votes, Coval received 358 votes, and Tindall received 356 votes.
A comparatively small number of Jackson County residents vote in Manchester’s school board race. From Jackson County, Wiitala and Harvey each received 23 votes, Tindall received 21, Coval 17, Lutton 12, and Stewart 5.
Proposals
All three statewide ballot proposals passed in Michigan. Proposal 1 allows legislators to reapportion how they use their term-limited years in the state legislature and passed statewide 66% to 34%. Proposal 2 makes voting easier and passed 60% to 40%. Proposal 3 adds the right to abortion to the state constitution and passed 57% to 43%. Likewise, when viewing all five Manchester area precincts together, all three proposals passed in the Manchester area. Prop 1 passed the Manchester area 60% to 39%. Prop 2 passed the Manchester area 52% to 47%. And Prop 3 passed the Manchester area 51% to 48%.
In addition to passing overall in the Manchester area, Prop 1 passed in each individual Manchester area precinct as well. That is not the case for the other two proposals. Proposals 2 and 3 passed in Freedom Township and Precinct 1 of Manchester Township. In Sharon Township, Proposal 2 passed but Proposal 3 failed. In Bridgewater Township and Precinct 2 of Manchester Township, both Proposals 2 and 3 failed.
The Manchester area also had two local proposals on the ballot: the Headlee Rollback offset millage in Manchester Township, and Fire and EMT Millage renewal in Sharon Township. The Manchester Township proposal failed overall by 66 votes. While it passed in Precinct 1 (the Village) 562 yes votes to 524 no votes, it failed in Precinct 2 (the non-village parts of the Township) 756 no to 661 yes votes. Sharon Township passed its proposal for a renewal millage for Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services 866 yes to 244 no, an impressive 78% to 22%!
Top of the ballot races
At the top of the ballot, Democratic candidates Gretchen Whitmer, Jocelyn Benson, and Dana Nessel defeated their Republican challengers Tudor Dixon, Kristina Karamo, and Matthew DePerno for the positions of Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, respectively. At the state level, Whitmer beat Dixon 54% to 43%, Nessel beat DePerno 53% to 44%, and Benson beat Karamo 55% to 41%.
The Manchester area split its support of the parties for these top three state level positions when viewed as a whole, supporting Republican candidate Dixon over Whitmer 51% to 46% and Republican candidate DePerno over Nessel 51% to 46%; but supporting Democratic candidate Benson over Karamo 49% to 48%.
Bridgewater Township, Sharon Township, and Manchester Township Precinct 2 supported Republicans Tudor Dixon for Governor, Kristina Karamo for Secretary of State, and Matthew DePerno for Attorney General. Manchester Township Precinct 1 supported Democrats Gretchen Whitmer for Governor, Jocelyn Benson for Secretary of State, and Dana Nessel for Attorney General. Freedom Township, like the Manchester area overall, did not support one party down the line but instead supported Republicans Dixon for Governor and DePerno for Attorney General, and supported Democrat Benson for Secretary of State.
Other races
In the past the Manchester area has had four precincts, Bridgewater, Freedom, Sharon, and Manchester Precinct 2, that (for the most part) reliably vote Republican, and one, Manchester Precinct 1, that reliably votes Democrat. All of the partisan races lower on the ballot broke along those traditional party voting lines.
The Manchester area is now in U.S. Congressional District 6. Democrat Debbie Dingell beat Republican Whitney Williams, winning the district 65% to 34% to become our next U.S. Representative. In the Manchester area, Dingell only won in Manchester Township Precinct 1. Williams won in Sharon, Bridgewater, Manchester Precinct 2, and Freedom. Notably, Freedom was a narrow loss for Dingell, with Williams beating Dingell by only 17 votes.
The Manchester area is now split between two state senate districts and between two state house districts.
Manchester, Sharon, and Freedom townships are now within the 47th state house district while Bridgewater Township is in the 33rd state house district. In the 33rd House District race, Democrat Felicia Brabec defeated Republican Robert Borer 75% to 25%. Bridgewater heavily supported Borer. In the 47th state house district, Democrat Carrier Rheingans defeated Republican Tina Bednarski-Lynch 63% to 37%. Freedom Township, Sharon Township, and Manchester Township Precinct 2 all supported Bednarski-Lynch while Manchester Township Precinct 1 supported Rheingans.
Manchester and Bridgewater townships are now in the 15th state senate district, and Sharon and Freedom townships are in the 14th state senate district. In the 15th district, Democrat Jeff Irwin defeated Republican Scott Price 74% to 26%. In the race for the 14th district between Republican Tim Golding and Democrat Sue Shink, Shink defeated Golding 56% to 44% .
In addition to the school board race, the other contested local race was for County Commissioner. Incumbent Democrat Shanon Beeman faced Republican challenger Robert Guysky. Beeman won 52% to 46%.
Voter Turnout
Turnout in all Manchester Area precincts was on par with turnout for the 2018 midterm elections. Manchester Township Precinct 1 had 62%, Manchester Township Precinct 2 had 68%, Bridgewater Township had 68%, Freedom Township had 70%, and Sharon Township had 71%. These turnout rates are much higher than the turnout for the 2014 midterms, but still lower than the 2020 presidential election rates.
Absentee ballot use has dropped from its height during the 2020 election. For instance, in Sharon Township in the 2020 presidential election, 52% of voters opted to vote absentee. In this election, only 35% opted to vote absentee.
Note: County-level data is taken from Washtenaw County unofficial election results and Jackson County unofficial election results. Statewide election results are taken from the Associated Press. All percentages are rounded down to the nearest whole number.
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