PRESIDENTIAL TURNOUT

Local clerks are reporting monumental requests for absentee ballots for the November 6 election, with higher-than-normal returns of those ballots. Three weeks out, Novi was up to 7,500 requests for absentee ballots, versus 5,000 in a typical midterm year; Farmington Hills already had almost 11,000 in requests; and Rochester Hills had surpassed 11,000, with almost 37 percent returned. “We’re blowing away our presidential absentee returns,” Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton reported. Expect turnout on November 6 to be in the presidential election category – or higher.