By Jim Newell
Review Editor
ORION TWP. — The Aug. 2 Primary Election is coming up and voters in Orion Township and the Village of Lake Orion have options on casting their ballots, including on Saturday.
Orion Township Clerk Penny Shults and her staff will host an absent voter day from 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday at the Orion Township Municipal Complex, 2323 Joslyn Rd.
Residents can go to the municipal complex, submit an absent voter request form and vote right there.
“We will issue them a ballot while they wait,” Shults said, adding that voters need to bring their ID with them to vote.
With a little less than a week to go before the election, voters can still mail their absentee ballots, but as the election draws closer, they should consider delivery times.
“If people want to vote absentee they shouldn’t wait,” Shults said.
Absentee ballots can be dropped off in-person in the clerk’s office at Orion Township Municipal Complex, or deposited in a drive-up ballot drop box near the front of the building.
Shults also said if anyone is interested in elections, they can contact the clerk’s office for information on becoming a poll worker.
“We need people. If people are interested in the process, and they are, get engaged,” Shults said, adding that poll workers help out at all of Orion Township’s 15 precincts. “It takes an army to do that successfully.”
For anyone who wishes to vote in person on Tuesday, polls for the Aug. 2 Primary Election open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Polls close after the Lake Orion Review press deadline. The Review will post results of the Primary Election on www.lakeorionreview.com and then publish the local results in the Aug. 10 print edition for the historical record.
Precinct locations are listed on the township website, www.oriontownship.org, under the “Departments” tab and then the “Township Clerk” link, along with more election information. There is also a new online voting app available on the township website that shows precinct locations and other information, Shults said.
Voters should have received an updated voter ID card in the mail listing their precinct location. Any voters who previously voted in school buildings will have a new precinct location. Lake Orion Community Schools are no longer serving as voting precincts.
Precinct 1: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 715 N. Lapeer Rd.
Precinct 2: The Village of Lake Orion, 21 E. Church St.
Precinct 3: Lake Orion Church of Christ, 1080 Hemingway Rd.
Precinct 4: Orion Township Public Library, 825 Joslyn Rd.
Precinct 5: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1950 S. Baldwin Rd.
Precinct 6: The River Church, 3920 S. Baldwin Rd.
Precinct 7: The DPW Garage, 2685 Joslyn Court.
Precinct 8: The Orion Center, 1335 Joslyn Rd.
Precinct 9: Lake Orion Baptist Church, 255 E. Scripps Rd.
Precinct 10: St. Mary’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, 2512 Joslyn Court
Precinct 11: The Orion Center, 1335 Joslyn Rd.
Precinct 12: Lake Orion United Methodist Church, 140 E. Flint St.
Precinct 13: Mount Zion Community House, 4005 S. Baldwin Rd.
Precinct 14: King of Kings Lutheran Church, 1715 S. Lapeer Rd.
Precinct 15: Orion Township Fire Station #2, 3801 Giddings Rd.
Shults is grateful for the places that agreed to serve as precincts.
“I have to give credit to the churches and municipal buildings,” she said, citing the township DPW, fire department, library and parks and recreation department as hosts. “Everyone stepped up to help us with precincts. I’m very thankful for them agreeing to be hosts.”
Anyone who has questions about their polling location or absentee ballots should contact the Orion Township Clerk’s Office at 248-391-0304 ext. 1.
The Lake Orion Review will also publish in the Aug. 10 issue the list of local candidates who have filed to run in the November election. The deadline for school board and village council candidates was 4 p.m. Tuesday after Review press time.
In the Village of Lake Orion there are four seats up for election on village council. The three candidates with the most votes win four-year seats on the council and the fourth place candidate earns a two-year seat.
As of Tuesday morning, Nancy Moshier, Doug Hobbs and Brad Mathisen and Ken Van Portfliet have submitted petitions to the Oakland County Clerk’s office.
There are three seats up for election on the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education in November, each for a four-year term.
As of Tuesday morning, Steve Drakos, Jake Singer, Heather Sinawi, Amie Gamache and Thomas F. Daniels have submitted petitions.