By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
The votes are in.
On Aug. 2, voters in Brandon, Atlas and Groveland townships cast their ballots in the primary election. One key proposal on the ballot was for Brandon Township precinct 6, which is the Village of Ortonville, for an ordinance to permit marijuana establishments in the village. The ordinance passed with 221 votes for the ordinance and 216 votes against it.
In July, a group Ortonville Residents for Action circulated a petition to get the measure on the ballot for residents to decide if establishments should be allowed.
“Next steps are, because it was so close, I’ve talked to the Township Clerk and Oakland County about steps for a recount,” said Ortonville Village Manager Ryan Madis. “We’re not doing anything further at the moment because the election is officially certified 14 days after the election, and it might trigger an automatic recount, I’m not sure. But we want to do one regardless just because it’s so close. If it had gone the other way, we still would have requested a recount to be fair to everyone.”
The ordinance will go into effect immediately following certification, and allows for up to two establishments within the village limits on a road that sees 20,000 cars per day. The full ordinance language is available at the Ortonville Village Offices, 476 Mill St., Ortonville. Anyone with questions can call (248) 627-4976.
Other races in the area included the 66th House district, 68th House district, Genesee County Commissioner for the 5th district and Oakland County Commissioner for the 7th district.
For the 66th House, which covers Brandon Township, the republican nominee is Josh Schriver, with a district total of 5,647 votes. The democratic nominee is Emily Bush, who ran unopposed.
For the 68th House district, which covers Groveland and Atlas townships, the democratic nominee is Cheri Hardmon with a district total of 4,815 votes. The republican nominee is David Martin with 4,255 votes.
In Oakland County, the republican nominee for 7th district commissioner is Bob Hoffman, who garnered 6, 022 votes in the district, which covers Groveland and Brandon townships. The Democratic nominee, Kristin Watt, ran unopposed.
In Genesee County, the Democratic nominee for 5th district commissioner is James Avery, who got 3,268 votes in the district. The Republican nominee, Teri Lynn Chambers, got 1,641 votes. The 5th District covers Atlas Township.
Voter turnout for all three townships was average. In Brandon Township, 3081 ballots were cast out of 13,488 registered voters, or about 28 percent voter turnout. In Groveland Township, there were 1,459 ballots cast out of 5,077 registered votes, also about 28 percent.
In Atlas Township, voter turnout was 32 percent, with 2,185 voters of 6,855 registered. Of all voters 48 percent were absentee ballots.