AV ballots are now available

By Charles Sercombe
For those of you who applied for an absentee ballot, you should have received one by now, or else very soon.
The Nov. 5 election is now less than three weeks away.
For those who want to vote in-person, early voting at city hall will begin on Oct. 26. For those who applied for absentee ballots (also known as AV ballots), they have already been mailed out.
Not registered to vote and you live in Hamtramck?
There is still plenty of time to do so, including on the day of the election.
This election might turn out to be one of the most consequential elections in recent years, with both candidates for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and former president Donald Trump, a Republican, running neck-and-neck in the polls.
Michigan is one of several states that are considered swing states that could shape the election outcome. Both candidates have been campaigning heavily in the state.
Hamtramck has made national headlines in recent weeks after Mayor Amer Ghalib, a Democrat, came out endorsing Trump, and influencing a number of others in the community, especially the city’s Yemeni Muslim community, to follow in his path.
The city has long been a Democratic stronghold, and the closest voters ever came to supporting a Republican presidential nominee was when Ronald Reagan ran for that office.
Besides the partisan and various judgeships and college boards and other positions for voters to choose candidates from on the ballot, there is a local angle.
There are six candidates vying for two seats on the Hamtramck Board of Education. The only incumbent seeking re-election is Board President Jihan Aiyash.
Other candidates include: Joseph Kochut, Linda Wolyniec, Philip Garbacz, Mohamed Algehaim and former Boardmember Showkat Chowdhury.
The Hamtramck Federation of Teachers is endorsing Kochut and Wolyniec.
And, speaking of the school district, there is a district millage renewal on the ballot for what is called an “Operating Millage” that would renew 18 mills on the property tax rolls for up to 10 years, and produce $2.7 million a year.
So far, the school district has failed to win over voters in two previous attempts to get a different millage renewed. Voters overwhelmingly rejected those proposals.
Another school-related millage renewal is from the county, called the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency Renewal of Regional Enhancement Millage.
This county-wide millage would renew a property tax levy of 1.9 mills that would raise $108,000 per year for the next six years. Hamtramck’s school district gets a portion of that tax revenue.
There are no state ballot proposals.
Posted Oct. 18, 2024

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