Many voters overlook primary elections, yet they present a crucial opportunity to influence the future of our community. Primary elections serve the purpose of narrowing down the field of candidates from each major party to one individual who will proceed to the general election in November, competing against candidates from other parties. As such, voters must choose which party's primary they wish to participate in, if any, when marking their ballot. The ballot is organized into separate columns listing candidates from each party.

It's important to note that selecting candidates from more than one party invalidates all partisan votes on the ballot. However, if a mistake is made, voters can request a new ballot. For absentee voters, we strongly recommend bringing your absentee ballot to either the early voting site (July 27th-August 4th) or the precinct on August 6th to tabulate your ballot. This option allows you to verify that you haven't inadvertently voted for candidates from different parties, which was made possible by the 2022 Prop 2 ballot measure.

The primary ballot features races such as US Senator, Congressional Representative, State Representative, County offices, Township offices, Circuit Court Judge, and Precinct Delegate. Some positions may not have a primary contest if only one candidate has filed from their party, effectively determining the outcome of the race after the primary. In the general election, there may only be one candidate to vote for in such cases.

In addition to primary contests, Highland's ballot includes a police millage renewal proposal. Even if you're not interested in primary contests, this issue will impact the services provided by the Police Department and your property tax bill.

To prepare for voting in person, voters can obtain a sample ballot from the Clerk’s office or visit www.mi.gov/vote. We encourage voters to use the sample ballot for research and note-taking to make their precinct visit less stressful.  Mi.gov/vote also provides information on absentee ballots, allowing voters to track the status of their applications or ballots received by the Clerk’s office to ensure everything is in order.

For other details about this year’s elections, visit this page:  https://tinyurl.com/2as6cbba

Questions or concerns can always be addressed at the Clerk’s office, with contact details available on the Township website's voter information page:  https://tinyurl.com/2yz7m9j4