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City clerk reports high absentee use, modest turnout in Marquette’s 2025 local election
Summary
City Clerk Kyle Whitney told the commission the election board met three times this year, certified candidates, conducted an accuracy test and reported roughly 3,000 votes cast in November; about 76% of ballots were absentee and 4,100 residents remain on the permanent absentee list.
City Clerk Kyle Whitney gave the Marquette City Commission an annual update on the city’s election board and recent local election activity, describing procedural responsibilities, meeting frequency and turnout statistics.
Whitney said the election board met three times in 2025 to certify candidates, appoint workers and run a public accuracy test of the city’s voting equipment. He noted that state law and the city charter define the board’s membership and duties; in Marquette the city clerk serves as board chair and four at-large appointees serve as qualified electors.
On turnout, Whitney said about 3,000 votes were cast in the November election out of approximately 14,750 registered voters. He said roughly 76% of the votes were cast absentee (including a permanent absentee list with about 4,100 residents). Early in-person voting drew about 58 voters over three days, and election-day turnout accounted for several hundred ballots. Whitney also described the state’s post-election audit process and noted the city had one post-election audit/hand count in a precinct.
Whitney closed by encouraging residents who have questions about how equipment is tested or how the process works to attend public election-board meetings, which he described as routine but public and open to observation.
The report contained operational details (inspectors, public accuracy tests and absentee ballot tabulation) but did not include proposed policy changes requiring immediate commission action.
