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Monday, August 04, 2014

VOTE: August 5 Primary Election is TOMORROW; info, sample ballots available online

HANCOCK -- Tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, is the day to vote in the Michigan Primary Election. Voters can obtain information about candidates on several non-partisan Web sites.

First, the State of Michigan lists all official candidates for the Aug. 5 Primary Election here. Some candidates' names are linked to their Web sites.

The Michigan League of Women Voters provides information on candidates' answers to questions on certain issues. Go to http://www.vote411.org/ to find your polling place and to access their voters' guide to learn where candidates stand on certain issues. Unfortunately not all candidates have responded to their questions, but by typing in your location (for your privacy the Web page does not save it) you can find out which candidates are on your local ballot and compare the views of those who have replied to the non-partisan League's questions.

Mlive.com also provides voter information and another way to compare candidates' views on issues. Again, though, some candidates have not replied to the questions. Click here to access the Mlive Voter Guide.

One State Ballot Proposal is on the Aug. 5 Primary Ballot: Michigan Use Tax and Community Stabilization Share, Proposal 1. Click here for a detailed explanation of Proposal 1 and lists of officials and organizations in favor of the proposal as well as those opposed. Citations from media editorials are also included. See also Public Act 80 of 2014, on which the proposal is based.

For Houghton County voters, there is also a Renewal of County Road Millage proposal.

You can obtain a sample Michigan ballot by filling in your information on the Michigan.gov Web site here.

Contested races

For the major U.S. and State legislator seats, the local primary ballot shows only two contested races: On the Democratic Party ballot, two candidates are running for the 38th District State Senate seat now held by State Sen. Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba): Christopher M. Germain and Chris LaMarche. To read about Christopher M. Germain, you can visit his Web site: http://www.votegermain.com/. To learn about Chris LaMarche visit his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LaMarcheforSenate/timeline.

Recently Germain and LaMarche participated in a forum sponsored by the Delta County League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women and the Delta Chamber of Commerce. See "Germain, LaMarche differ on state spending cuts in candidate forum," by Craig Woerpel on upperpeninsula.biz.

See also Keweenaw Now's March 15, 2014, article on Chris LaMarche's visit to the Houghton County Democratic Party at their March meeting.

On the Republican Party Primary ballot, U.S. Congressman Dan Benishek is being challenged by Alan Arcand of Iron River, who appears to be a Tea Party candidate.

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