What's in this Guide
The Primary Election
U.S. Representative in Congress, 6th Districts
State Representative, 60th & 61st Districts
Kalamazoo County Commissioners, Districts 3, 6, 11, 12, 16
The Primary Election
A primary election is held by the political parties to select their nominees for the offices to be elected at the upcoming general election. In a primary, Republicans run against Republicans and Democrats run against other Democrats. If other parties qualify to appear on the primary ballot, their candidates run against each other as well. In a primary, you may vote on only one party’s candidates. You cannot split your ballot between the various political parties. A primary election may also be held for nonpartisan races in order to narrow the number of candidates for the general election.
A general election is between party nominees and any candidates without political party affiliation. The general election determines which candidates will occupy the office that is up for election. Statewide ballot proposals also appear on the general election ballot.
Elections included in this Guide are ones in which:
There is more than one candidate for a political party in a state or county race. For example, if there are two or more Republicans running against each other, we included information about those candidates, as well as any Democrats in that race, even if there is a single unopposed Democrat. The races that meet this criterion for the August primary are:
• Governor
• U. S. Representative in Congress, 6th District
• State Senator, 20th District
• State Representative, 60th & 61st Districts
• Kalamazoo County Commissioners, Districts 3, 6, 11, 12, 16
Note: There may be additional contested races on the ballot that are not included in this Guide. They will occur if a qualified write-in candidate files for a race in a party in which there is at least one other candidate on the ballot. The League of Women Voters included all qualified write-in candidates who had filed with the Kalamazoo County Clerk by the time the Voter Guide was ready to be published.
For information about candidates on your ballot:
The Voter Information Center on the Michigan Secretary of State website allows voters to confirm their registration status, obtain information on the location of their polling place, view a sample ballot and obtain other election-related information.