FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

April 19, 2005 Carmella Sabaugh 586-469-7939

COUNTY CLERK SAYS ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUESTS SET RECORD

Macomb County Clerk / Register of Deeds Carmella Sabaugh today said the number of requests for absentee ballots for the May 3 election has already exceeded the total absentee ballots cast in the last school election by seven times. She received 7,142 absentee voter application forms so far from voters in Clinton and Macomb Townships. She began mailing ballots to voters yesterday. For the last school election in June 2004, in Clinton and Macomb Townships for the school districts whose elections Sabaugh is now overseeing, only 1,104 voters cast an absentee ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s qualified voter file.

“It looks like the increase in voter participation is due to the new consolidated election law,” said Sabaugh. “It is clear that sending an absentee voter application form to everyone qualified to cast an absentee ballot increases turnout.”

Sabaugh was a leader in promoting absentee voting when as Warren City Clerk in the early 1980’s she mailed absentee voter application forms to voters age 60 and over. She continued that tradition for the May 3 election by mailing 23,810 absentee ballot application forms to voters at least 60 years old in Clinton and Macomb Townships.

Voters in Clinton and Macomb Townships who live in the following school districts may request an absentee ballot application form via:

§ Internet - http://www.macombcountymi.gov/clerksoffice, or

§ Fax - call 1-888-99-CLERK, request document #6020, or

§ Local or county clerk’s offices

Sabaugh’s office is open weekdays from 8am – 5pm, and every Wednesday evening until 7 p.m.

Voters in Clinton and Macomb Townships in the following school districts must return absentee voter application forms to the county clerk: Chippewa Valley Public Schools, Fraser Public Schools, L’Anse Creuse Community Schools, Mount Clemens Community Schools, New Haven Community Schools, and Utica Community Schools. All other voters return absentee voter application forms to their local clerk.

A person may cast an absentee ballot for any of the following reasons:

§ he or she is age 60 or older, or

§ expects to be absent from the community on Election Day, or

§ is physically unable to attend the polls, or

§ because of the tenants of his or her religion, or

§ the voter has been appointed an election inspector other than in his or her home precinct, or

§ the voter is confined to jail awaiting arraignment or trial.

As the result of a new law designed to streamline elections, Sabaugh will be running school elections for 104,393 registered voters, more than any local clerk in the county. She will run school elections in Clinton and Macomb Townships for six school districts in 36 polling locations, for the school districts listed above. The clerks in Clinton and Macomb Townships decided not to participate in their township elections, as they were allowed to do by the new law.