City of Dewitt

Elections

Voting Information

How to Vote

To vote prior to an election:
The City of DeWitt has entered into a countywide agreement in which Clinton County will offer nine days of early voting prior to the election, beginning the second Saturday before an election and ending the Sunday before the election. The Presidential Primary Election will be on Tuesday, February 27th. There will be two early voting sites that you may vote at: DeWitt Township Hall and Bingham Township Hall. If you do not wish to vote early at one of the sites, you may still vote in person at City Hall on Election Day or by absentee ballot. Below is the Early Voting Location information:

State Law requires the Clerk’s Office to be open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on the Saturday prior to an election.

To vote on election day:
Appear at your polling place on Election Day. The polls are open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Polling Location:
Starting in 2024 the City of DeWitt consolidated from two precincts to one. All residents will vote in the Community Room at City Hall, 414 E. Main Street 


Sample Ballots – Presidential Primary February 27, 2024

Click on your party to view a sample ballot. 

Voting Access for the Disabled:

Under the requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), each polling location must have at least one voting unit designed to accommodate the needs of disabled voters. Clinton County has selected the Hart Intercivic Verity Touch Writer as its county-wide system. It is a voting device that allows voters with a variety of disabilities to vote using the same Varity Scan as other voters in the same precinct. These new voting machines will be available for use beginning with the August 2018 Primary election.

Voting Equipment

Beginning with the 2018 election cycle, a county-wide optical scan voting system was implemented. After considering the various optical scan systems, Clinton County polling places will be using the Hart Intercivic Verity Scan.

 

02 27 24 Notice of Tabulation of Early Voting Equipment

Precinct Information

Consolidation of Election Precincts

Starting in 2024 the City of DeWitt consolidated from two precincts to one. All residents will vote in the Community Room at City Hall, 414 E. Main Street 

Public Act # 298 of 2003 (the Election Consolidation Law) provides for the consolidation of local elections and mandates that cities and townships shall conduct all school and community college elections. All City residents will vote at the above precinct location for school elections. (Effective January 1, 2005)

Absentee Ballot Request

Absentee Voting

There is no longer any need to state a reason for voting by absentee ballot.

The City maintains a permanent absentee voter list. Many of you are on that list currently, and we mail you an application before each election. If you want to cast your vote by absentee ballot by mail, you complete the application and return it to us, and we send your ballot by mail once it is available. If you are already on the list, we will continue to mail you an application for each election as we have been doing.

If you are not on the list currently but would like to be added to the permanent absentee voter list, you can be added online by visiting the State of Michigan Voter Information Center website. You may also contact our office at (517) 669-2441 or send an email to info@dewittmi.gov. We can only send you an application if you ask us to. We can only mail you a ballot if you complete the application and return it to us for each election.

A voter who applies for an absent voter ballot for a primary election may, at the same time, request an absent voter ballot for the following general election if he or she is eligible to receive an absent voter ballot for both elections.

Absent voter ballots are opened on Election Day by the election inspectors and tabulated in the same machines used for ballots of in-person voters. All absent voter ballots must be received by 8:00 pm on Election Day.

To apply to be on the Permanent Absent Voter List, fill out the Permanent Absent Voter List Request Form

Running for Office

General Information

  • The City Charter (Article 5 – Elections and Article 6 – Elective and Appointive Offices), provides detailed information about candidates filing for office and elections.
  • Regular City elections are held in each even-numbered year on the same date as state and federal elections. The elections of all city officials are non-partisan.
  • The electors of the city elect the Mayor to two-year terms.
  • Members of the City Council are elected to four-year terms. Three members of the City Council are elected at the regular City election in November of each even-numbered year.
  • All persons elected to City offices at the regular City election shall take office at the first regular City Council meeting in January following the election unless the time for taking office is extended by the City Council.

Qualifications of Elective Office

According to the City Charter, “Elective officials shall be registered electors of the City, who shall have resided within the City for six months or more, and shall be at least 21 years of age on the date the office is to be filled.” It also states, “The election of all City officials as provided in this charter shall be non-partisan (City Charter, Section 6.4).