Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich reached out to the newspaper to share that the county sheriff’s office will have officers present at every precinct’s polling places Tuesday. He says their main goal is preventing public disorder.
“We react to things (like domestic violence or a drug overdose), but we also have a preventative portion to our job. And if we can prevent things from happening by having a presence on scene, or being seen, or talking about it … I’m willing to do that, to remind people to be civil and get along as best they can,” Borkovich said.
Leelanau County residents tend to be politically engaged. The county had the highest voter turnout in the state during the 2022 elections. But sometimes the discussions can get a little bit heated. And this election seems to be a particularly divisive one.
For example, during the county’s June 18 senior expo at Suttons Bay High School – a seemingly innocuous event bringing senior services organizations together – representatives from the Leelanau Democrats and the Leelanau County Republican Party were asked to leave as school policy doesn’t allow political activities. Borkovich says that a “surprising” amount of county residents have asked him what the sheriff’s office plans to do to ensure a safe and secure election. Borkovich says that his office will respond to break up fights, and that he trusts the local officials procedurally administering the election.
“I have a lot of faith in our election officials, from our county clerk to our individual township clerks, that they’re going to do the right thing for the right reason. Whether they argue about Dominion voting machines or not — that’s an entire(ly) different concept,” Borkovich said. “In our county, I expect to have a good election.”
Borkovich also said his office is investigating some cases of theft or vandalism of voting signs from people’s yards. He says that sometimes, these signs are not really stolen but have been removed by the County Road Commission or Michigan Department of Transportation for blocking the field of view in the right of way. Both groups keep the signs for two weeks before discarding them.
On a state level, the office of the attorney general released guidance for law enforcement officials Oct. 10 anticipating questions about election laws. The document cites several passages of Michigan Common Law.
Among other things, the Michigan attorney general’s office says that groups gathering to monitor absent voter drop boxes, early voting sites, or polling locations could be feloniously intimidating voters, depending on the circumstances.
It also says the department has seen increased aggressive and illegal electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance, which voters have reportedly found intimidating.
The attorney general’s office advises officials to give special consideration to armed demonstrators just outside this safety barrier but adds that “voter intimidation can occur even without the presence or use of a weapon.”
“When deciding if the group is acting in an intimidating fashion, you should consider the following: The number of people grouped together; the amount of coordination between members of the group – are they wearing clothing that identifies them? Are they positioning themselves with any coordinated effort? How are they dressed? Are they in ‘full kit?’” an excerpt reads.
It also mentions laws making it a felonious to vote twice or make false statements on ballots, a misdemeanor to cause disturbances at an election place, and allows precinct chairpersons to remove people for challenging voters based solely on their ethnicity.
An Oct. 17 release by the U.S. Department of Justice also says “federal law protects against threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.”
