One of the most important duties of a Township Clerk is to insure the intergrity of the voting process. It appears that the Genoa Township Clerk has not consistently upheld the high standards voters have come to expect. Should she lose her job? Voters will decide in August.
Polly Skolarus (R), the incumbent Genoa Township Clerk is facing a primary challenge in the upcoming August 2 election. She is being challenged by Dan Wholihan (R), Chair of the Livingston County Republican Party.
An article published by the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus on November 20, 2012 described a situation where two registered voters in Genoa Township were deleted from the township's voter roll. Clerk Skolarus suggested the Genoa Township couple, Joseph and Sara McQuade, may have mistakenly believed that they were registered to vote in Michigan. To this Mr. McQuade responded, "They kept blaming it on me, but I've lived here since 2006, and I've voted there before."
Clerk Skolarus would have been better served by owning up to the error rather than blame it on the voters.
This story should serve as a caution to all registered voters. Do not take your voting rights for granted.
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Quoting directly from the November 20, 2012 Press and Argus article:
Michigan Department of State officials said Genoa Township may have deleted a lifelong Michigan couple's voting registrations in error over residency concerns.
Genoa Township Clerk Polly Skolarus said the township's voter-roll system is "99.9 percent accurate," however.
Meanwhile, Joseph McQuade said he and his wife, Sara, were "just deleted" from the state's Qualified Voter File, which is coordinated by the state and local governments.Skolarus' office registered the couple to vote on Election Day and counted their ballots that day, she said. The deadline to register for the presidential election was Oct. 9.
She suggested the couple may have mistakenly believed they were registered to vote in Michigan.
However, the McQuades moved to Genoa Township from Ann Arbor in 2006 and are lifelong Michiganders, Joseph McQuade said. He said he last voted in the 2008 presidential election, also in Genoa. "They keep blaming it on me, but I've lived here since 2006, and I've voted there before," he said. "Somebody just deleted us," he added.
The Department of State said the Qualified Voter File shows the township canceled the couple's voter records June 26 over the residency concerns. That means Skolarus' office had good reason to believe the couple didn't live there anymore, Gisgie Gendreau, department spokeswoman, said. . .