Election day is around the corner

By Charles Sercombe
Get ready to vote this coming Tuesday, Aug. 5.
In fact, a number of local voters have already gotten head starts — by voting absentee.
If you have an absentee ballot and haven’t mailed it in yet at this point, it’s advised you drop it off at the city clerk’s office in city hall, or at your precinct on election day.
Have second thoughts on how you voted on your absentee ballot and haven’t turned in the ballot yet?
If so, you can take it to your precinct and ask them to invalidate it, and get a fresh ballot.
This year’s primary election is limited to just the mayoral and city council races – nothing else, not even a single county or local ballot proposal.
Voting precincts will open at 7 a.m. and will close by 8 p.m. The city clerk’s office will be open this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to allow people to register to vote or turn in absentee ballots.
To register to vote, you must be at least 18 years old and prove you live here.
One thing is certain: Hamtramck will be getting a new mayor, since current mayor Amer Ghalib decided not to seek re-election after one term. Instead, he is counting on being confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the ambassador to Kuwait.
As of this publication on Friday, no date has been set yet for that confirmation hearing, and senators are now on summer break until September.
Ghalib is endorsing a former campaign assistant, Adam Alharbi, to take his place.
Two city councilmembers have also opted out of seeking re-election: Khalil Refai and Muhith Mahmood.
While Refai is ending his political career, Mahmood is taking a shot at becoming mayor.
The only current councilmember seeking re-election is Abu Musa.
This election comes at a time when there are ongoing investigations into whether four councilmembers committed election law violations – namely, what’s commonly called “ballot harvesting” – in the 2023 election year, and also whether two councilmembers are actually residents.
Depending who you ask, those investigations are either going nowhere, or are still in the process of being investigated.

The following candidates are seeking the city’s top job of mayor:
• Adam Alharbi
• Khandaker Showkat Hossain
• Mister Bangladesh
• Muhith Mahmood
And, for city council, the ballot includes the following candidates:
• Joseph Strzalka
• Diane Frkan
• Rezaul Chowdhury
• Nayeem Choudhury
• Motahar Fadhel
• Yousuf Saed
• Abdumalik Kassim
• Abu Musa
• Luqman Saleh
• Russ Gordon
• Mahfuzur Rahman
• Khalid Al Qsaimi
In the mayoral race, the primary election will whittle down the candidates to the two top-vote getters, who will go on to battle it out in the November General Election.
In the council primary, the top six finishers will advance to the General Election, where the final three candidates will be selected by voters in November.
Posted Aug. 1, 2025