A total of 32,012 voters in Muskegon County, 21.7 percent of registered voters, cast their ballots in the Michigan primary elections, which concluded with Election Day Aug. 6 after a week and a half of early voting.
Elissa Slotkin and Mike Rogers locked in their positions as the two major parties’ candidates for Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat. Stabenow, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election.
Slotkin easily defeated Hill Harper in the Democratic primary, collecting over 76 percent of the vote statewide. In the county, Slotkin earned 73.7 percent of the vote. Rogers emerged from a Republican field of four candidates by picking up 63.2 percent of statewide votes. His share of Muskegon County votes was 57.8 percent. Rogers’ closest challenger was Justin Amash, who earned 15.7 percent of the vote in the state and 22.7 percent of county votes.
The only other contested race for a county position in the White Lake area was the Democratic spot on the November ballot for water resources commissioner. Stephanie Barrett, the current deputy commissioner, won the primary with 65.1 perrcent of the vote over David Farhat. Barrett will face Republican candidate Zach Lahring, who was unopposed in his primary, to replace Barrett’s direct superior, Brenda Moore, who is not seeking re-election.
Voters also gave approval to a measure that will renew Muskegon County’s senior millage at the same rate it currently collects - 0.4921 mills, or 49.21 cents per $1,000 of a property’s taxable value. The ballot language estimated the millage would account for $2.6 million of revenue for 2024 if approved.
Fruitland Township was the site of a pair of races, one for supervisor and another for trustee. Kimon John Kotos edged Nicholas Cribley with 55.9 percent of the vote to nab the Democratic spot on the ballot for supervisor. Current supervisor Jeff Marcinkowski, a Republican, is not seeking re-election, and there was no Republican listed on the primary ballot for that position.
Also in Fruitland, a field of six Republican candidates vied for four positions on the township board. Christopher VanOosterhaut, Brent Brower, Sondra Cross and Michael Holman were elected. VanOosterhaut led the way, with 23.2 percent of the vote. Brower earned 18.9 percent of votes, Cross picked up 18.7 percent, and Holman was approved by 16.2 percent of voters. About half of the 1,768 voters to weigh in on the trustee race did not vote for the maximum four candidates.
In a tight race for Dalton Township supervisor among three Republicans, Heather Petrie-Cooley was the winner. Petrie-Cooley, recently installed as the township clerk, garnered 35.9 percent of the 685 votes cast, beating Rory Rought for the position by just 10 votes. This was a coincidental outcome, as Rought’s 2020 attempt to become supervisor also ended with a loss by a very small margin (eight votes) to current supervisor Jeff Martin. Martin is not running for re-election. William Scutt finished third in the race with 29.6 percent of the vote.
