Ludington Area Voter's Guide, November 2024 General Election, Early Edition

[XLFD]

With early voting and the mailing of ballots already underway in our area it is prudent to offer our version of an election guide.  If you have received a ballot in the mail, as many have, consider voting early as you never know what may come up on Election Day, but we urge you to wait until you've done enough research on candidates (no issues on local ballots) and wait until after the local candidate forum at WSCC on October 17th beginning at 6:30 PM, which will feature even school board candidates and township officers running in contested elections.  We will not review uncontested races and races where the amount of openings equal the number of candidates on the ballot unless a credible write-in candidate exists.

Before that, we offer this resource and hope you can review this and our recap of the candidate forum before making your choices and consider which candidates are best for you.  In looking at an official ballot, you will notice they offer the opportunity to vote straight party ticket.  Our credo is that one should never vote straight party tickets, this is intellectually lazy and ignores the fact that each party has some characters that don't deserve your vote, even if they wear your same color, and you may ignore a maverick in the other party that better represents you.  While we don't discourage voting for third party candidates, we will not discuss them with the calculus unless they have a very real chance of scoring at least double digits.

President of the US

At the Ludington Torch, we generally eschew the notion of party, but we do stand with those that fight for liberty, fight against corruption, and fight for American principles/ideals.  That's why we wholeheartedly endorse former President Donald Trump at the top of the ballot, who has shown that he will fight, fight, and fight again even when all the tools of the current administration, the legal system, and the ingrained administrative bureaucracy (aka the Deep State) are used against him.  

His policies are solidly seeking the objectives mentioned and buck the general trend of socialistic globalism in the current administration that would spell doom for our country and its values as we know it.  Elon Musk said it well in his endorsement of Trump, in which he also eloquently endorses limited government, free markets, open minds, and freedom.   The leadership of one party is fighting against those freedoms, restricting thought, and trying to grow government into a leviathan, Trump's party isn't. 

One party's leadership is saying Trump will be bad for democracy while offering a candidate who never received a vote in the primaries, all the while using lawfare and administrative tricks in order to try to get Trump off ballots-- just like they did all along with their better candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who never got a chance due to all of that 'democracy' taking place.  This is hypocrisy, not democracy as we know it.

That same side connects Trump in a series of attack ads with an 'abortion ban', 'Project 25' and 'National Sales Tax' very dishonestly to a point I've never seen before.  But if you need one more good reason to vote for Donald Trump, I suggest looking forward to 2026.  Our country is poised to celebrate our 250th year, and as someone who was a dozen years old when the USA had its bicentennial, I remember it as a very patriotic time where we celebrated our forefathers and their fight for freedom. 

Wouldn't you want a person in the White House who embraces the founding of this country, rather than an administration that would continue its process of working against them and downplaying the event?  If you answer no, if you want someone to take the country away from its founding ideals which have led to its greatness over the years, if you want porous borders and international edicts to govern your life, if you want to choose someone that has never been seriously vetted in any way, choose Kamala Harris.

US Senator

We've heard plenty of negative ads ran by both parties in this race featuring Mike Rogers and Elissa Slotkin, and while both have experience in the US House of Representatives, neither were recognized as standouts and both were dependable votes for their respective parties.  A recent debate between the two had no clear winners with both defending their party lines, so there won't be a lot of crossover votes here, and independent voters should follow their choice made with the POTUS, as they will mostly be in agreement.

Representative 2nd District

This has Republican incumbent John Moolenaar face Michael Lynch in the deep red district where Moolenaar won by almost 2-1 against a similar Democrat opponent in 2022.  A quick look at Lynch's website shows that his direction is not in alignment with the district which equates to a 20+ point loss.  Moolenaar has shown some grit to widen his base by very publicly questioning the Big Rapids Gotion project and in other recent votes.

MI 102 District Representative

This features incumbent Republican Curt VanderWall and challenger Kathy Pelleran-Mahoney in another deep red district won by VanderWall in 2022 by 23% points.  Once again, her non-conciliatory position with the district's core values will not work well for her, as unfortunately she has failed to make a good case against VanderWall, who has a lot of character questions.  If that corruption troubles you as much as it does us, but you don't want to vote for a Democrat who follows party line attacks rather than the character issues, then skip this section.  

State Board

Involves candidates for the state board of education and college trustees for U of M, MSU, and Wayne State.  The trustee position generally doesn't matter too much if you're not an alumnus of the university and when the nearest university is more than a three-hour drive away, so choose the party that mirrors your views in education and vote for two.  For the MI BOE spots, be more inclined to vote Republican or third party if you are concerned with the recent trends in education towards progressive ideals.  These trends will continue if the board continues to have 3 Democrats for each Republican.  The two Republicans on the board are the two seats up for reelection, so if they do lose out, there will be no Republicans on this board.

County Seats

There are seven general county seats on the ballot, and though some of these were contested in the primary election, none of these Republicans have opponents.  If it weren't for Nick Krieger in Ludington, the board seats would also only have Republicans up for reelection.  This county can't elect Democrats if they don't even bother running (even though this might turn out to be a bad year for them).

Non-partisan Section

Local Probate Judge Jeff Nellis is running unopposed, but at the state level two judges for the supreme court will be chosen by state voters.  Two are running for each spot, and Liberals/Democrats will likely gravitate towards the women, Kimberly Ann Thomas and Kyra Harris Bolden, while Conservatives/Republicans will do the same for Andrew Fink and Patrick William O'Grady, due to their differences on key issues like abortion and constitutional interpretations.  For these non-partisan seats, the choice for liberals and conservatives is clearer than usual.  

Ludington City Seats

In Ludington, there is nobody on the ballot for the Treasurer spot, but the odd wards will see some turnover as incumbents will not run in the First and Third Ward (not counting recently council-appointed Tim Large).  The 5th ward once again has the best contest with Mike Shaw challenging Wally Cain.  Cain has 'Deep City' credentials fiercely defending the past actions of the city and attacking those who criticize city hall.  Shaw has been approachable, goes to meetings, and is willing to stand up for traditional values, without going overboard, as he has with being against the marijuana, beach alcohol sales and paid parking issues without coming off as a prude. 

Will this be another nail-biter contest like the last two 5th ward votes decided by less than a handful of votes.  Maybe, but if Shaw wins in any way, we may see a more diverse set of eyes on the council.  The only other city election of note is the treasurer office, which has nobody running for the seat on the ballot.  If you want to be the next city treasurer, get your Declaration of Intent in by October 25th at 4 PM to the county clerk.   

School Boards

These may be the most exciting county races in the two main school districts.  In Ludington, five candidates are running for two seats, including the two incumbents looking for reelection:  Scott Foster and Leona Ashley.  They are challenged by Mike Winczewski, Bryan McCormick, and Alan Neuschwander.  There isn't a lot out at this point distinguishing them from each other, so we will make a better analysis after the forum, but at first glance, we would recommend Neuschwander and Foster for those who like engagement and traditional school values.  If you want to progress into a school system that has values of the Democratic party, vote Ashley and Winczewski.  

In Scottville, we will also withhold analysis, since there will be write-in candidates still to come due to the fact that they currently have more seats open (3) than candidates (2), and at least a couple of folks have submitted write-in declarations.  

Also of note

I have covered Pere Marquette Charter Township over the last year and they have five candidates (four incumbents) running for four spots.  Newbie Megan Tresnak like three of the incumbents is Republican so if you go exclusively for the GOP your straight ticket vote should insure that Ron Soberalski, the lone Democrat, will have a harder time of getting back on board.  That would be unfortunate, Soberalski was instrumental in getting PMCT back on track during their Bleau period and engages the tough issues eclectically.  If change is wanted, consider withholding your fourth vote from Henry Rasmussen, who has the name but not the energy needed for this position, and darken Tresnak's oval along with Soberalski's.

The Scottville City Commission is also interesting as four four-years term seats are available with three candidates (incumbents Thue, Jensen and Wyman) and two two-year seats are open and only one person (incumbent Spore) is running.  The ones on the ballot are mostly assured of winning back their seat, but we hope to find out the list of write-in candidates by the 25th.  

[Willy]

Thanks X for this well researched topic and the information in contains. I would like to recommend one thing and that is unless it is absolutely necessary do not use mail in ballots or drop boxes. I know several people whose ballots were not received. When they decided to check and see if their votes had been counted they were told there was no record of their ballots being recorded. Most people do not understand how many hands their ballots must pass thru in order for the processing of their vote to be completed by means of absentee ballots. If you must use absentee ballots, have someone you trust hand deliver it and get a receipt for it. 

[XLFD]

Anybody paying attention knows that since at least 2020 Secretary Jocelyn Benson, buoyed by other Democrats in charge and the indifference of a lot of RINOs in the state legislature, adjusted the rules so that any ballot, fraudulent or not, would be counted and made it so that there be no verification procedures or other ways to ensure the integrity of elections.  Will the procedures she has tried to keep in place since (many that have been found to be unlawful in state courts) be enough to put in enough fraudulent votes this time around for the Presidential and Senate votes to fall in her party's favor?  

Maybe, but the warning you give is sound.  If you are wanting to vote early, if you have got a ballot in the mail at your address, fill it out and hand-deliver it to your city clerk at your convenience.  Cut out the middlemen.  Expect election day shenanigans if you vote on that day (especially if they claim you have already voted) or check on that day to see whether your early vote is in the system.  If it isn't, vote again so your voice will be heard.  I half expect Benson to do something so outrageous this time around that if it is not swatted down by courts, we may lose meaningful elections in Michigan forever, or at least until the folks rise up against the tyranny.

[RK Hubbard]

..."any ballot, fraudulent or not, would be counted and made it so that there be no verification procedures or other ways to ensure the integrity of elections." This statement is wrong. All ballots will be verified and no unverified ballots will be counted. Period. While the rules and the process could use some clarification, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that the present process is constitutional. Just because it doesn't favor your political preferences does not make it unconstitutional, unfair, or fraudulent. 

[XLFD]

RK, you may not have heard that Secretary Benson has lost 9 court challenges to her handling of the 2020 (and even 2022) elections many involving the lack of verification procedures and her willingness to not secure the election process.  I called it out early because I recognized it as such, and with good reason:  I stole a couple of elections in the past.

In the article Walhalla Wins Again, printed back in 2012, I described how the Ludington Torch-- despite a very directed effort by Ludington City Hall using a lot of resources to get their own votes-- was able to deliver two victories for Walhalla (over Ludington) in a Reader's Digest election of the nation's best communities.  I didn't go into exact detail of how I did it at the time, but what I did was take advantage of the voting process, much like Democrats did in Michigan back in 2020.

RD voting allowed you to cast up to 10 votes each day per email address, but they didn't verify email addresses, so if you just typed random keys into the email section, after resetting the page, you could do ten more votes.  So even though there was a concerted effort by many Ludington folks following the rules, I could spend an hour on the computer and get a thousand votes in for Walhalla, taking advantage of the lack of election integrity left open by RD both times.

With all of the intentional ways SOS Benson rigged the election process in 2020, it was just about as easy to assure victory at the presidential level.  You know, if Benson was Republican and worked for the benefit of Republicans, I would have been just as upset with her.  Fairness, honor, and truth is much more important than whether your candidate wins.

[Willy]

[AnxiousGuy]

[AnxiousGuy]

We all know that important documents should be stored in the bathroom, not the porta-potty.