Former City Councilman Works at the Polls

When others would think it's time for a break, Jerry Mittman still likes to be active in his hometown.

Mittman, 68, who served on the City of Northville city council three times, worked at the polls Tuesday.

"It was eight years ago that I got off city council," he said.

Since then, Mittman, a Northville resident for 37 years, has been a poll worker. He is also a chairperson of the Northville Senior Advisory Commission and is an active member of the Downtown Development Authority parking committee and Friends of Maybury State Park.

"If there's a committee, I was probably on it," he said at Amerman Elementary School, Precinct 2's polling location.

He said voter turnout is low not only because of the ballot's uncontested races but also because many residents don't know there is an election.

"You're not going to see signs out there because there's no competition," he said.

So if people don't read the newspaper or Northville Patch, they won't know about the election, he said.

Still, he said Precinct 2 voters — City of Northville residents who live in Oakland County — submitted a total of almost 300 absentee ballots.