Election worker Mary Perry. Photo: Samuel Robinson
Detroit election worker Mary Perry, who lives across from the David Whitney building downtown, has been helping seniors in Capitol Park get to the polls for years.
Perry works Precinct 145, which saw 45 voters by 7:38pm Tuesday, Aug. 5, the day of Detroit’s primary municipal election. That precinct, and Precinct 157, is inside the United Methodist Church downtown. Precinct 157 saw 72 voters on Tuesday.
Only 1% of the city’s population lives downtown Detroit, but the people who live there represent the changing fabric of the city. Longtime seniors living near young, wealthy newcomers all came to the precincts inside the church to cast their vote for Detroit’s next mayor.
“Anything for the betterment of life and our people,” Perry said. “I think young people don’t vote because they have it too good. People have lost respect, honor and dignity. Us seasoned voters, we’ve lived our lives and know what’s important.”
Perry said keeping seniors in comfortable living situations is the top priority. She and others at the polling location Tuesday told Michigan Chronicle they feel like rising rents are pushing middle income residents away from downtown.
Faith Carpenter and Therese White live in the same building as Perry, and credited her for getting their neighbors out to the polls each year.
“I’ve been voting each election since the 70s, since I was 18,” White told Michigan Chronicle. “I’m not sure why it’s so hard to get young people out to vote. It’s easy for me because my neighbor and one of the ladies I used to live down the street from were always poll workers.”
For each voter under 30 who cast a ballot in the 2021 primary race, there were 10 voters over 60 years old, according to a report from BridgeDetroit. Detroit Department of Elections data shows residents over the age of 60 cast 62% of votes in the previous primary while representing only 28% of all registered voters.
This means when candidates run for office, the needs of young people are often a second thought, since they aren’t the ones deciding elections.
In the last primary, 4,432 votes came from people under 30 compared to 43,895 votes from people over 60. Turnout was 4% for voters under 30 and 31% for voters over 60.
Zachary Polselli and his wife Kirsten Polselli, both 30, represent a new generation of Detroit voters. They moved to Detroit in 2021 and have lived downtown since. Kirsten voted Perkins and Polselli, who currently works in the mayor’s office, voted for Saunteel Jenkins.
While poll worker Tom Choske saw a mix of young and older voters come to the United Methodist Church near Comerica Park Tuesday, he said he noticed at the downtown precinct there wasn’t many people part of Generation X. He also said he saw police chief Todd Bettison at the polling location Tuesday.
“You get folks in their 30s, some in their 20s and then most folks in their 70s is what you kind of get around here,” Choske said. “I’m just happy to see people out exercising their rights.”
