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From super majority to narrow minority

To use a football metaphor, the breakout 60-yard gain was called back for a penalty, killing the team’s momentum and resulting in negative yards. Leelanau Democrats are disappointed after the 6-1 super majority on the County Commission they thought they had—following unofficial, and incomplete, election results posted to the County website in the wee hours of Nov. 6­—changed to just three seats. They’ll be in the political minority once again through the four-year term. Democrats thought they were riding a blue wave on the County Commission, too, until County Clerk Michelle Crocker suddenly alerted candidates, and the media, on Friday afternoon, Nov. 8, that more than 3,000 in-person early votes had not been counted in the unofficial results. They were uploaded to the ElectionSource software on election night, but didn’t save correctly. A hand count of the paper backup ballots revealed the discrepancy. Lois Bahle, who now trails her Republican opponent Will Bunek by seven votes, plans to request a recount once results are certified late this week. “I owe it to my constituents and to myself with only a seven-vote difference,” said Bahle. “The recount process is also a way to show that the system works. We can have faith in it.”

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County Commission flips back to Republicans after election-night vote miscount

Republicans will once again have a majority on the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners (BOC), 4 seats to 3, following official canvassing by the County Clerk’s Office today, which revealed that hundreds of early votes were accidentally not counted during election night, Nov. 5. Unofficial results posted early on Wednesday morning, Nov. 6, erroneously showed that 6 of 7 Democrats had won their races. The Glen Arbor Sun, as well as other news outlets, all reported on Wednesday that the Democrats would enjoy a super majority on the BOC. Instead, they’ll once again be in the minority. According to County Clerk Michelle Crocker, the votes posted on the County website on Wednesday morning did not represent all the ballots cast. They were uploaded but didn’t save correctly, she told the Glen Arbor Sun. A hand count of the paper backup ballots on Friday revealed the discrepancy. The County Clerk’s Office works with the company ElectionSource.

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Coach “joy” pumps up the Park Place

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Just before Democratic Vice Presidential hopeful Tim Walz approached the lectern to address an enthusiastic, packed crowd in the ballroom of Traverse City’s Park Place Hotel on Friday, Nov. 1, he turned around and fist-bumped supporters flanking him on stage with Harris-Walz campaign signs. Grand Traverse County Commissioner Ashlea Walter and her daughter Phoebe were among them. Upbeat and enthusiastic, with John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” playing in the background, Walz arrived early and spent 23 minutes during his pep rally with the Northern Michigan crowd of progressives and Democrats, reminding them that polls in the Nov. 5 presidential election would close in under 100 hours, and encouraging them to vote, and turn out others to vote, for Kamala Harris for President, and push away the vitriol and and dark vision of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Polls show that Michigan, a crucial swing state, is very close.

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How to vote for Palestinians: Kamala Harris or third party?

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In October, the local organization Mideast: JustPeace held a community gathering to talk frankly about the dilemma those of us who care about Palestine and the Middle East face: cast a protest vote, or vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, knowing that things are likely to be worse under Donald Trump. Or at least equally bad. So in this presidential election year, what are we to do? Our choices are poor as far as American policy toward Israel is concerned.

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Undertaker enters the ring: Trump’s (very late) appearance in Traverse City

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By the time Donald Trump arrived three hours late in Traverse City for a campaign rally at a hangar near the airport on Friday, Oct. 25—11 days before the presidential election—the thousands of MAGA faithful gathered there were cold, tired and hungry. Toddlers dozed in their parents’ laps or curled like branches around their shoulders. Two women huddled together against a lamppost outside the hangar while they puffed on cigarettes. An exhausted couple lay on the cold concrete near the press area, eating corndogs. Hundreds left when they realized that Trump wouldn’t arrive any time close to his 7:30 scheduled appearance. The crowd gathered in Traverse City represented a cross section of northern Michigan. Some had driven across several counties to get here. There were medical workers, realtors, food service workers, and a few college students. They were very young, middle aged, and old, some very old. They showed kindness and compassion to their fellow attendees. When an exhausted and dehydrated person fell over, strangers raced to him and offered support, water bottles, and encouragement. Nevertheless, a sense of caution, even mistrust, undergirded some at the rally.

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Trump’s mass deportation threat worries Leelanau’s tight-knit Latino community

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They pick our cherries in the summer and our apples in the fall. They care for our vineyards and clean our rental houses. They raise children here, enroll them in public schools and celebrate quinceañeras in local parks. Many have lived in Leelanau County for decades. Out of 22,000 residents—according to the latest Census—as many as 1,000 of our neighbors identify as Hispanic or Latino. Many have an undocumented parent or family member living here in northern Michigan, now as rooted here as the pine trees, though they crossed illegally into the United States years ago. The local Latino community is acutely aware that the subject of immigration is tossed around like a political football during this presidential election season. They hear Republican candidate Donald Trump’s threats to carry out the “largest deportation in American history” and his maligning of non-white immigrant communities—and it frustrates and concerns them. Some worry about being racially profiled; some have grown more cautious about sharing their legal status with fellow community members; some worry about an environment of anxiety surrounding their kids, most of whom were born here and have U.S. citizenship.

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