July 2, 2022

You're invited to our Community Conversation series!

Ottawa County Clerk/Register, Justin Roebuck and Elections Coordinator, Katie Sims will be at three community locations in July and October to discuss elections in Ottawa County. The series is called Community Conversations and will be held at the Georgetown Township Hall on July 28th, Herrick District Library - North Branch in Holland on October 11th, and Loutit District Library in Grand Haven on October 25th.

Justin and Katie will open the conversation by discussing topics like absentee ballots, logic and accuracy tests and post-election audits. They will then take questions from the audience! Questions can be submitted ahead of time to elections@miottawa.org, at the event or online during the livestream.

If you plan to attend in-person, please RSVP at https://ottawaelections.eventbrite.com (preferred but not required). The livestream can be accessed during each event via YouTube here.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Recap of Steps 1-3 in the Lifecycle of an Election

For the last three weeks, the Clerk/Register of Deeds office has shared information about elections from the Lifecycle of an Election graphic via Facebook and Twitter. Week 1 covered topics like the types of elections in Michigan and how candidates and proposals get on the ballot. Week 2 re-introduced Hart Intercivic, Ottawa County's election equipment vendor since 2017. It also covered topics like how ballots are programming and proofed for mistakes. Check out this video with Clerk/Register Justin Roebuck and Elections Coordinator Katie Sims to learn more about ballot programming! Week 3 covered Logic and Accuracy tests, a critical piece of election security that ensures tabulators are counting votes correctly. These tests are open to the public and conducted before every election. Visit our post on FAQs on LATs here to get your questions about Logic and Accuracy tests answered!

Top Facebook posts you don't want to miss!

Did you know that it takes 3-4 weeks for us to proof ballots? The process involves County staff, local clerks, and candidates. Check out this video to learn more about how ballots are proofed to ensure your ballot is correct on Election Day!

There are many offices on the ballot! Any registered voter can get their name printed on the ballot by filing the correct paperwork with the filing official for the office that they want to run for! The filing deadline for candidates is months ahead of an election, which gives the filing official time to verify the candidate is eligible for office and has no errors on their filing paperwork.