ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The final vote in Ann Arbor was cast at 2 a.m. the morning after the midterm election began.
Voters were met with long lines and long waits way after the polls closed on the University of Michigan campus.
Students and some faculty left it until the last minute to register to vote and get their absentee ballots from the Ann Arbor clerk’s satellite office.
Once they got inside, they registered to vote and were given their ballots. They were able to go next door and cast that ballot.
The last person to get in line just before the 8 p.m. deadline was post-graduate student Eric Pedersen.
“My class got out at 7:50 p.m. and I thought, I just have to do it. I just have to get out here and vote. And I got here right as they were closing,” Pedersen said. “I know that abortion, proposal three is the big one. But, I guess, the whole thing is important to me.”
He waited three hours to get inside the building, and once inside there were more delays. He had to wait for several more hours.
There was an issue with a qualified voter file in Lansing, which meant processing came to a halt. Pederson was able to cast his vote shortly after 2 a.m.
“I didn’t expect it to be six hours, but here we are,” Pederson said.
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