Candidates in several races have cast their votes this morning and are now making the rounds as voters continue to head to the polls.
By 8 a.m., 47 people voted at precinct 14 in Farmington Hills, typically the city's busiest voting location, Chairperson Lunda Summers said.
"I don't know if people are civic-minded," the Ford materials handling and logistics retiree said, contemplating the reason for high voter turnout at First Presbyterian Church at Farmington and 11 Mile. "Usually we have the most voters."
Voter David Baughman, 63, a resident for 29 years, said he stopped on his way to the family business, Plastomer Corp. in Livonia, an automotive parts manufacturing company that employs 140 people.
"If somebody came in late, I don't think they'd get docked if their reason was they had to vote," said Baughman, wearing a half-dollar-sized sticker saying "My Vote Counted" near the collar of his white polo shirt.
Way Elementary on Long Lake east of Telegraph in Bloomfield Township is the site of a steady but light stream of voters this morning.
Dentist John Artemenko, 57, was one of the first in line.
"To think there are people dying around the world to have the opportunity to vote, the least I could do was get up early," he said.
Artemenko was particularly interested in the mileage for the Detroit Institute of Arts. He voted to support the mileage, but would like to see more accountability and responsibility to surrounding communities if the measure passes.
"If they want us to be better supporters, we should have a little more say," he said.
Tammy Stables Battaglia
U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, was one of the first to cast his ballot at the St. John Presbyterian Church in Detroit's Lafayette Park area. Clarke, in the middle of at 24-hour campaign blitz that will end later today.
Clarke is facing U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D -Bloomfield Township, in the state's only congressional race that pits two incumbents against each other because of newly drawn 14th district lines. One of the Democrats will lose his seat tonight.
Peters greeted people this morning at the Coleman Young Municipal Building in Detroit. He said his day started in Southfield, and after leaving Detroit, he would head to Pontiac, West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills before returning to Detroit for his campaign gathering at the Athenaeum Hotel.
"We feel real good," said Peters. "The people out there have been extremely warm, but we aren't taking anything for granted."
Pam Woods, 43, got up early to vote at St. John. She said she voted against the DIA millage because, "I guess people go. I don't. I don't see no use."
But Betty Lileton, 52, said she voted for the millage because it seemed like the right thing to do.
Also campaigning outside St. John Presbyterian Church in Detroit early this morning was state Rep. Rashida Tlaib and her opponent, state Rep. Maureen Stapleton. Previously representing different districts, the two are now fighting for a redrawn 6th District.
Tlaib said she's encouraging people to vote, especially on the DIA millage. Among her stops today is the Green Dot Stables in Corktown. The owners, she said, are her constituents. She said she is confident she'll be going back to Lansing.
"I think the residents are committed to making sure my voice -- their voice -- gets back to Lansing," she said.
Stapleton, who is a resident of the Lafayette Park area, said she voted at Chrysler Elementary School. She encouraged people to vote for the DIA millage, as well as elections for other legislators.
"I'm hoping that people will care, especially on this side of town, that they have a representative that lives among them," Stapleton said.
