By Douglas P. Marsh
dmarsh@cherryroad.com
Registering to vote at 5 p.m. on election day with an out of town ID was doable, although it threw the West Branch City Clerk for a bit of a loop. Overall turnout among registered voters in Ogemaw County for the May 7 election was just under 20%, with 3,923 ballots cast. Millage proposals to support fire departments all passed in Goodar and Ogemaw townships, and Churchill Township voters approved renewals to continue funding road improvements and spongy moth suppression. Proposals to renew and restore millage rates rolled back by state law failed, including for county property taxes and the West Branch-Rose City Schools’ operating millage. Additional millage proposals to support the West Branch District Library and county animal services also failed.
The county’s board of canvassers went to work certifying the results at noon on May 8. The closest tally, according to unofficial results, was the WB-RC school operating millage renewal proposal, with 1,573 for (49.05%) and 1,634 against (50.95%). The proposal had sought to renew the school’s operating millage rate at its 2023 level. Superintendent Gail Hughey estimated a failure would leave a $7.5 million deficit in the school’s operating budget, 30% of the fund’s total revenues. Opposition to the proposal was strongest in the City of Rose City, Cumming Township, and in Bourett and Clement townships in Gladwin County, where voters turned down the measure by a factor of 2 to 1.
The West Branch District Library’s proposal also failed by a narrow margin, with 787 votes for (48.34%) and 841 against (51.66%). The library board had asked for 0.4 mill in addition to an existing 0.4 mill tax, in order to make up for a drastic decrease in revenues collected from penal fines over the past five years. Support was strongest within the City of West Branch, where almost 65% of voters supported additional library funding. But the measure failed by narrow margins in West Branch and Ogemaw townships and received only 41% support in Edwards, Foster and Horton townships.
Fire department support was strong, with 75% of voters approving millage renewals in Goodar Township and 59% in Ogemaw Township. Churchill Township preliminary results showed 74% in favor of moth suppression and 58% supporting continued road maintenance.
But township boundaries are where voters drew lines supporting millage proposals in this election. The Headlee override, which sought to restore rolled-back property tax rates levied by the county, failed in every voting precinct except the City of West Branch, where it passed by a narrow margin, about 54% in support. The millage proposal to fund county animal services had nearly 60% support within the city but also failed to win majority support in any other precinct, although the issue did find almost evenly split opinions in a couple of townships.
Voter turnout in Ogemaw County was highest in Klacking Township, where more than 27% of registered voters cast a ballot. Richland and Mills townships had the lowest turnout, with around 12.5% and 13.5%, respectively. The average and median turnouts across Ogemaw County’s 18 voting precincts were almost the same as the overall turnout: the average was 19.8% and the median was 19.9%.
Election data from the county can be found at www.ocmi.us/clerk/elections/
