Voter turnout tops 75 percent in Orion area

Orion Township and the Village of Lake Orion saw a 75.93 percent voter turnout in the 15 precincts for the Nov. 8 General Election.
And while there were contested local elections for the township Board of Trustees and the Lake Orion Board of Education, there were no major upsets.
Incumbents in both races were re-elected, and new candidates will join each board, replacing incumbents who did not seek re-election or were defeated in the Aug. 2 Primary Election.
A list of the unofficial results from the Oakland County Clerk’s office is listed below, with the percent of votes each candidate won and the total votes they earned in the election.

Trustee—Charter Twp. of Orion
Brian Birney, Michael Flood, Jr., Ron Sliwinski and John Steimel were elected to the Board of Trustees in Orion Twp.
Trustee Donni Steele was elected as the new treasurer and incumbent Trustee Neal Porter did not receive enough votes in the Aug. 2 primary election.
Brian Birney (REP) had 11,577 votes, or 21.51 percent. Michael Flood, Jr. (REP) garnered 21.60 percent of the votes in the election, 11,624 votes total. Ron Sliwinski (REP) had the most votes in the township trustee race, with 22.45 percent, 12,082 votes. John Steimel (REP) had 21.13 percent, 11,376 votes.

Democrat Courtney F. Shafer – who did not appear to actively campaign for the trustee position, earned 7,024 votes, or 13.05 percent. There also were 144 write-in votes, 0.27 percent, and 53,827 total votes cast.

Board Member—Lake Orion
Community Schools
Board of Education Vice-President Deb Porter and Trustee Connie Meech did not seek re-election. President Scott Taylor and Trustee Birgit McQuiston were re-elected, and are joined by new Trustees Dana Mermell and Nathan Butki.
Nathan Butki received 19.68 percent, or 8,494 votes, of the total votes cast. Birgit McQuiston earned 20.24 percent, 8,735 votes. Dana Mermell garnered 21.40 percent of the votes, 9,236 votes total. Scott Taylor led board candidates with 22.85 percent, or 9,860 votes.
Sean H. Wightman had 15.36 percent of the votes, 6,629 votes total. There were 198 votes write-in votes cast, 0.46 percent, with 43,152 total votes cast in the race.

Orion Township Supervisor
Supervisor Chris Barnett ran uncontested in the election, winning 97.82 percent of the votes in the race, 14,465 votes total. There were 322 write-in votes cast, 2.18 percent.

Orion Township Clerk
Incumbent Penny Shults ran uncontested in the general election, after winning a close race against Jenn Zielinski in August.
Shults received 98.43 percent, 14,356 votes, in the general election. There were 229 write-in votes, 1.57 percent.

Orion Township Treasurer
Trustee Donni Steele ran uncontested in the general election, after winning the primary election against incumbent Treasurer Mark C. Thurber.
Steele earned 98.18 percent of the votes cast, 13,912 votes total. There were 258 write-in votes, 1.82 percent.

Sheriff– Oakland County
Inclumbent Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard (REP) won re-election, receiving 59.15 percent of the votes, or 375,308 votes in all.
Challenger Craig S. Covey (DEM) received 40.62 percent, or 257,759 votes. There were 1,447 write-in votes, 0.23 percent. There were 634,514 total votes cast.

Prosecuting Attorney — Oakland County
Jessica R. Cooper (DEM) won the county prosecuting attorney election, defeating Mike Goetz (REP).
Cooper received 50.49 percent of the vote, 315,469 votes total.
Goetz, a Lake Orion resident, received 281,266 votes, or 45.02 percent.
Steve Afton, Libertarian Party candidate, received 4.35 percent of the vote, 27,149 total votes. There were 918 write-in votes, 0.15 percent, and 624,802 total votes cast.

County Clerk/Register of Deed
Incumbent County Clerk Lisa Brown (DEM) won re-election by winning 54.26 percent of the votes, 331,839 votes in all.
Challenger Bill Bullard, Jr. (REP) received 45.41 percent of the vote, 277,730 votes. There were 1,976 write-in votes, 0.32 percent, and 611,545 total votes cast in the race.

County Commissioner — First District
Incumbent Michael J. Gingell (REP) easily won re-election, getting 63.37 percent of the votes, 18,232 votes in all.
Challenger Michelle Bryant (DEM) received 36.32 percent, 10,448 votes, of the total votes.
There were 89 write-in votes, 0.31 percent, and 28,769 total votes cast in the race.

Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) millage proposal
Voters in Oakland County narrowly defeated the RTA millage, with a 50.09 percent nay vote (293,510 votes), to 49.91 percent in favor (292,401 votes). The millage did fail over the four counties in which it was proposed.

Police Millage — Village of Lake Orion
Residents in the village passed the Lake Orion Police Dept. millage proposal continuation request by a vote of 62.94 percent (968 votes) in favor.
There were 570 no votes (37.06 percent), and 1,538 total votes cast.