Detroit — Metro Detroit voters showed up at the polls Tuesday in modest numbers as residents in communities cast ballots to help determine whether there would be historic firsts in the fall elections. 

Among early results, Terence Mekoski and state Rep. Douglas Wozniak of Shelby Township were battling for the lead among GOP candidates in a special election to decide a Republican-leaning state Senate seat for Macomb County.

Mekoski, who unsuccessfully ran for Macomb County sheriff in 2020, had 32% of the vote to Wozniak’s 30% in early results. State Rep. Pamela Hornberger of Chesterfield Township trailed in third with 24%. Martin Robert Genter of Harrison Township was leading John Bill of Rochester Hills in the Democratic primary, 67%-33%. The top vote-getter in each party advances to the fall.

The 8th District seat is open after former Sen. Pete Lucido, R-Shelby Township, was elected Macomb County’s prosecutor in November. The winner of the GOP primary in the special election will be the favorite to claim Lucido’s seat in November.

The November 2020 election appeared to be affecting the race. Mekoski and Wozniak said they supported a new audit of Michigan’s November 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden by 3 percentage points or 154,000 voters.

Mekoski has called for a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election. He told The Detroit News most voters he talks with in the district think there was fraud in the election.

Wozniak also said the idea that there was fraud is still prevalent.

Hornberger didn’t make a commitment to this idea prevalent among Trump supporters, arguing it would depend on what evidence of fraud comes forward in the state. “We already had an audit,” said Hornberger, referring to more than 200 audits performed by local election officials in Michigan.

Seven Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination in the 8th Michigan Senate District, the most Republican-leaning Senate district in Macomb County, a swing county that Trump won twice.

In 2018, Lucido prevailed with 62% of the vote, defeating Democrat Paul Francis by 24 percentage points. The district includes Mount Clemens, St. Clair Shores, Harrison Township, Shelby Township and Washington Township.

Other key races to be decided included ones in Dearborn, where voters were cutting down a crowded field of 18 candidates for City Council in races to determine whether the panel will remain majority Arab American. Voters were also narrowing down mayoral candidates from seven to two. Three of them, if elected in November, would be the first Arab American to hold the job; two would be the first woman.

In Taylor and Pontiac, incumbent mayors hoped write-in campaigns will put them back on ballots in the fall.

In Detroit, meanwhile, voters weighed in on Proposal P, a controversial measure to revamp parts of the City Charter, as well as candidates for mayor. Among the other high-profile contests were Detroit’s city clerk and multiple district and at-large council seats. 

Those voting in person Tuesday joined 250,000 voters who have already spoken via absentee ballots, including 43,000 voters in Detroit, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday afternoon. 

“This option is extremely popular,” Benson said of absentee voting after casting her vote at Louis Pasteur Elementary School on Detroit’s northwest side.

Benson herself had requested an absentee ballot, but spoiled it and requested a new one Tuesday at the polling site. In November, still in the thick of the pandemic, the Democratic secretary of state dropped her absentee ballot off on Election Day at a drop box. 

In all, 393 Michigan communities had elections on Tuesday, Benson said. The turnout specifically in Detroit was “on par” with expectations, she said.

Due to lower voter demand relative to the 2020 election, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey said the city put out 20 drop boxes this year compared with 30 in the November election last year.

Elsewhere, some communities, such as Warren, didn’t even have any politicians on the ballot — just millage renewal requests. Others, such as Detroit, Pontiac, Sterling Heights and Taylor, decided who will appear on their respective November mayoral ballots.

More:High stakes contests in Metro Detroit. Here are primary races to watch

Local clerks and political experts indicated many voters took advantage of Michigan’s no reason absentee ballot policy and casting their ballots ahead of time, instead of voting in person.

Voting appeared to be sparse Tuesday in several Detroit precincts throughout much of the day.

Some of that modesty appeared due to some voters unknowingly being assigned new polling places. They learned, sometimes by accident and sometimes late, that they would not be able to vote where they intended.

 “It was outrageous that we weren’t notified until yesterday that our polling place changed,” said Denise Griebler, a resident of Southwest Detroit.

She blamed the city clerk for the problems. “With all this conversation about having free and fair elections, I think having a (city) clerk that we can count on, that has integrity, is really important.”

Winfrey, who is running for reelection, did not comment Tuesday night when asked about the confusion, saying instead she would speak after polls closed.

Laz Thigpen, chairman of the precinct voting at the Durfee Innovation Society, said he learned his polling location changed on Tuesday morning. “It’s the slowest turnout we’ve had in recent history,” Thigpen said. “I think it’s because a lot of people were having miscommunications, a lot of precincts got switched.”

Only one person on his team got a letter telling them the location had switched, he said. Thigpen estimated that the last time he worked a primary election, 115 people showed up; he had only seen 30 with two hours before the polls closed Tuesday.

A handful of voters showed up at the Detroit Service Learning Academy on Seven Mile on the city’s northwest side.

Those who cast ballots said Proposal P prompted them to head to the polls. It seeks to expand oversight in Detroit government and enhance resident quality of life, but opponents, including Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have argued some changes are considered illegal or would put the city back into bankruptcy, which the city emerged from in 2014.

“The biggest issue was Proposal P; I had to vote no on that,” said Robert Plant, 70. “(The proposal calls for) all these changes, but there’s no need to for all that.”

But Willie Mayes, 67, said he supported Proposal P because “some people worked all their lives and never got what government owes them.”

“The people who are against (the proposal) lived most of their lives not worrying where their next check was coming from,” Mayes said. “They may have PhDs, 501(c)3s, but they don’t know what it’s like for the little guy who’s had his pensions pilfered or squandered by politicians.”

Proposal P also motivated voters who showed up at the polling station at the Academy of the Americas on the city’s west side.

Bill Wylie-Kellermann, 72, a retired United Methodist pastor, community activist and educator, said the issue “really represents a process that’s been very democratic, with hundreds of meetings over several years, of people participating on a range of issues.”

“Water affordability is an important one that we’ve been involved in, the water struggle,” he said. “Housing issues that are there. Election integrity, police integrity … the reparations element both in terms of African Americans and in terms of folks who were so fraudulently screwed on on taxes.”

Winfrey anticipated a 13% to 18% turnout for the primary — about the same or slightly more than the 14% participation in the August 2017 primary.

In suburbs, the write-in controversy appears to have generated interest in Taylor, where about an estimated 1,000 voters had cast ballots by around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Taylor Deputy Clerk Sara El-Rifaai said.

More than 4,000 absentee ballots also have been returned, so the city is on pace to exceed the 5,000 voters who cast ballots in August 2017 when Mayor Rick Sollars ran unopposed, El-Rifaai. The number of voters is “a little more than normal,” she said.

Sollars, who is under indictment for federal bribery and wire fraud charges, was forced to wage a write-in campaign after failing to file campaign finance reports and pay fines prior to filing for reelection. He lost a court fight with the city clerk to get his name on the ballot.

Sollars is being challenged by state Rep. Alex Garza, City Council Chairman Tim Woolley and Jeff Jones, a pastor. 

In Pontiac, Deirdre Waterman, the city’s first female mayor, was also looking to get on the November ballot for reelection through a write-in campaign. Waterman was disqualified from the ballot after she failed to file campaign finance reports on time.

Michigan State Police are investigating her filings, which included a signed affidavit asserting she had no outstanding fees. State law says that candidates determined to file false or inaccurate statements on their affidavits must have their name left off the ballot. They’re also at risk of a felony punishable by a fine of $1,000 and five years in prison.

She was up against former Oakland County Commissioner Tim Greimel, the city’s former chief development officer Alexandria T. Riley, attorney Jeremy Bowie and grant writer Wanda Denise Coates.

Early on Tuesday night, Greimel and Riley were leading in the race. That came as the Oakland County clerk’s office said it will be later reporting “unassigned write-in votes,” and the specific total for Waterman isn’t likely to be known until the Board of County Canvassers meets Wednesday morning.

In Sterling Heights, it was difficult to gauge voter participation because the Macomb County city didn’t have competitive primary elections in 2017 and 2019. Absentee ballots were up overall compared with prior years, and turnout was light compared with general elections, Sterling Heights spokeswoman Melanie Davis said.

Voter Maryna Pitsenko said it was important to come out in person and vote on Tuesday in Sterling Heights, especially those who can make it to the polls.

“It’s everyone’s duty to do it,” Pitsenko said.

Staff Writers James David Dickson, Hani Barghouthi and Jennifer Chambers contributed.