2024 August primary election results for the Manchester area

Raining hard outside of the City of Manchester’s polling location at City Hall. Photo by Sara Swanson.

by Sara Swanson

Manchester-area voters went to the polls on Tuesday, braving the rain and factoring in a parade and the kick-off of the fair to their schedules, to vote in primaries for the US senate, state house races, county positions, township positions and on county-wide and local proposals.

Voter turnout was about the same as for the 2022 primary. Bridgewater had 28%, Freedom had 35%, Manchester Township had 32% turnout, all the same as two years ago. The City of Manchester had 28% turnout, up from their 2022 turnout while Sharon Township had 30% turnout, down from their turnout of 35% two years ago.

Not all precincts separate out their absentee ballots from their election day ballots, but Freedom and Sharon do. Freedom Township votes were pretty closely split between election day and absentee while Sharon Township favored absentee with four voters choosing absentee for every three that voted in person.

New this year was an option to do early in-person voting. Created to alleviate long lines and wait times in city precincts which aren’t usually issues in the Manchester area, some local voters did opt to vote early in person. The City of Manchester had no early voters, Freedom had one early voter, Manchester Township had 5, Sharon, which is the closest to the Manchester area’s assigned regional early voting center in Sylvan Township, had 17. Bridgewater Township, the only one of our local precincts that chose to open their precinct to early voting instead of utilizing the county’s regional system had 46 early voters, seeming to illustrate that the closer the early voting location, the more likely a voter is to take advantage of it.

Freedom Township Trustee Race

The only contested township election in our area was for Freedom Township Board trustee on the Republican ticket. Dennis Earl Huehl and Daniel L. Schaible were re-elected, defeating challenger, Shaun Andring. Huehl and Schaible received 37% and 36% of the vote to Andring’s 25%. They will not face any Democratic challengers in November.

Washtenaw County Sheriff

Current Washtenaw County Sheriff, Democrat, Jerry L. Clayton is not seeking reelection. Three candidates ran on the Democratic ticket, Alyshia Dyer, Derrick Jackson, and Ken Magee. Dyer appears to have edged out Jackson by a couple of hundred votes. Dyer received the most votes in all of the Manchester area precincts other than in Sharon Township, where Jackson received the most. Jackson came in second in all Manchester area precincts except Bridgewater, where Magee received the second most votes. Republicans did not have a candidate on the ballot.

County Clerk/Register of Deeds

Both Democrats and Republicans selected their candidates for Washtenaw County Clerk/Register of Deeds race in November, Incumbent Democrat, Lawrence Kestenbaum won all Manchester area precincts, defeating his Democratic challenger Shelly Brock. On the Republican ticket, the Manchester area supported Samantha Strayer over Adam de Angeli. Kestenbaum and Strayer won their respective races and are set to face off in November.

County Treasurer

Current Washtenaw County Treasurer, Democrat Catherine McClary, did not seek reelection. All precincts in the Manchester area supported Robert F. Zimmerman over Brian Bennett on the Republican ticket. Zimmerman, defeated Bennett and in November will face Democrat, Latitia Lamelle-Sharp who ran unopposed.

Board of Commissioners – District 3

Republicans selected their candidate for the District 3 County Commissioner race in November. Ryan L. Baumgart beat Sean W. Egmon in all of the Manchester precincts and was victorious in District 3 overall 53% to 46%. Baumgart will face incumbent Democrat, Shannon Beeman who ran unopposed in the primary.

State House District 33

Current State Representative for the 33rd district, Democrat, Felicia Brabec did not seek re-election to a third term. Bridgewater Township Democrats supported Morgan Foreman over Rima Mohammad in the Democratic primary. Foreman won the vote and will face Republican Jason Rogers in November who ran unopposed.

State House District 47

Republicans in Manchester, Freedom and Sharon Townships, and the City of Manchester supported Sharon Township’s Teresa Spiegelberg over Tammy May Keller for 47 District State House representative. Spiegelberg won the race and in the general election in November, she will face off against the incumbent Democratic, Carrie A. Rheingans who ran unopposed.

US Senate race

Both Republicans and Democrats selected their candidates for the US Senate race in November. Front runners, Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers won the nominations on their respective ballots, and won their races in all Manchester precincts. They will face off against each other in November.

Bridgewater Township Extra-Voted Millage Renewal Proposal

Bridgewater Township passed its fire millage renewal 65% yes to 34% no.

Manchester District Library Proposal

The Manchester District Library Millage Renewal passed in every precinct. It was closest in Bridgewater Township where it passed 57% yes to 42% no and passed by the widest margin in the City where it passed 74% yes to 24% no.

County Proposals

The County’s roads and paths millage, Conservation District millage, and Parks millage all passed county-wide and received more “yes” than “no” votes in all Manchester Area precincts except in Bridgewater Township where all three received more “no” votes.

Note: all percentages are rounded down to the nearest whole number. All information is taken from https://electionresults.ewashtenaw.org/electionreporting/aug2024/ and are unofficial numbers.

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by Sara Swanson

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