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    • Trump encourages early voting in Michigan, labels system ‘ridiculous’
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    Trump encourages early voting in Michigan, labels system ‘ridiculous’

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    Novi — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign urged supporters in Michigan over the weekend to cast their ballots before Election Day, but the Republican nominee personally labeled the long early voting windows a “ridiculous system.”

    “You know what the ridiculous system is?” Trump asked a crowd during a Saturday afternoon rally in Oakland County. “You have the rest of your life to vote. Anytime you want.”

    Trump’s speech at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi came as a nine-day period of in-person early voting ahead of Michigan’s Nov. 5 open election. Large screens inside the convention hall encouraged attendees to “get involved in voting” and to “commit to voting early, in person today.”

    While Trump said people should go to the polls, he also criticized how long it takes election officials to determine results and what he sees as substandard voter ID policies.

    “Bad things happen,” Trump said.

    At Saturday’s event, the former president focused on immigration, his plans for the economy and touting the support he’s received from Muslims in Michigan. Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and Imam Belal Alzuhairi of Hamtramck spoke in support of Trump at the rally.

    A group of Muslim men sat on stage with Trump. And Bazzi, who is also Muslim, referred to the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

    “We’ve never seen the devastation we’re seeing now,” Bazzi said. “When President Trump was president, there was peace.”

    Amid what is expected to be an extremely close race for the White House against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Republicans are trying to make gains with Michigan’s contingent of early voters — whether they are people who vote in person before Election Day or use a absentee ballot. .

    But public opinion polls suggested that Trump, who had previously done so questioned the integrity of mail-in absentee ballotscontinues to struggle with Michigan’s early voters, while he fares better with Election Day voters.

    About 1.48 million absentee ballots have already been returned in Michigan, representing about 25 percent of all votes cast in the 2020 presidential race. As of Saturday, another 158,377 voters had cast early ballots at Michigan in-person voting centers, according to the secretary of state’s office.

    Michigan Democrats hope to build a firewall to support early voting before voting even begins at 7 a.m. on Election Day.

    More: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/10/26/michigan-election-sites-see-brisk-traffic-on-first-stat

    U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, and Stephen Miller, a senior Trump adviser, spoke at the Novi rally in front of the former president. Both James and Miller promoted early voting.

    It would be “crazy” for the Detroit Lions to let their opponents go up and then try to catch up late in the fourth quarter, James argued, comparing the idea to Republicans waiting en masse to vote on the day the elections.

    “Please get out and vote and get 10 friends to vote,” James urged the crowd.

    More: Trump is leaning on turnout in rural Michigan in the last campaign

    “Funny Business”

    Trump lost the 2020 Michigan election to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, 48%-51%.

    Trump later made unproven claims that widespread fraud influenced the result, and his supporters tried unsuccessfully to overturn the result through the state Legislature and the US Congress. Meanwhile, a series of court rulings, an investigation by a Republican state Senate committee and bipartisan canvassing boards supported Biden’s victory in Michigan.

    Anthony Whipkey, 43, of St. Clair Shores attended Trump’s rally on Saturday and said she plans to vote early “right after” it. Whipkey said he has never voted early in the past.

    “We want to try to get our votes and sanctify ourselves before, you know, any kind of funny business, again,” Whipkey said.

    Under a ballot measure approved in Michigan in 2022election officials throughout the state must offer in-person early voting for at least nine days starting Saturday and ending Nov. 3.

    Whether Trump can increase his support in suburban Michigan and with those who voted before Nov. 5 could determine whether he defeats Harris.

    Oakland County

    Four years ago, Trump lost Oakland County, where he spoke Saturday, by 108,177 votes, 42 percent to 56 percent, to Biden.

    Oakland County Republicans have been “laser-focused” on reaching voters over the past two years, said Vance Patrick, county GOP chairman.

    “Am I going to guarantee a red wave?” Patrick said before Trump’s speech. “It will be less bad than it was last time.”

    Patrick said organizers of Saturday’s rally expect about 4,500 people to attend.

    Trump won Michigan in 2016, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton with 10,704 votes at the state levelapproximately 0.2% of the total votes. That year, he lost Oakland County by 53,867 votes, 43%-51%, about half the margin of defeat in 2020.

    Trump rallied voters in Traverse City late Friday night ahead of his Saturday event in suburban Detroit. His Democratic opponent, Harris, campaigned on Saturday night with former First Lady Michelle Obama in Kalamazoo.

    Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is scheduled to campaign in Saginaw Township on Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced Saturday.

    More: Nine days of early voting underway in Michigan. Here’s how it works

    More: Dead but not buried on Michigan voter rolls. Their names examined

    Democrats have criticized Trump’s record on the auto industry in recent days, noting that Michigan auto and parts manufacturing jobs have fallen during his first term — including before the COVID-19 pandemic hit — according to federal data. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    “After insulting Detroit and mocking its auto workers, Trump is returning to Michigan, a state that lost 280,000 jobs during his presidency while giving tax breaks to companies that sent jobs to abroad,” said Shafeeqa Kolia, spokeswoman for the Harris campaign in Michigan. “A second Trump term would pose an even greater risk to the stability and security of working families.”

    “It’s Guaranteed”

    On Saturday, Trump unveiled plans to impose tariffs on vehicles made outside the United States and cut the corporate tax from 21 percent to 15 percent for those who make their products domestically.

    “We want these companies to come back to this state,” Trump told the crowd.

    He wants to see a “miracle” happen for the auto industry in Detroit and Michigan, he said.

    “It’s going to happen,” Trump said. “And it’s guaranteed.”

    Elizabeth Sutherland, 37, of Highland Township, a Trump supporter who attended Saturday’s rally, said she agrees with the former president’s handling of the economy. Her construction contracting business was doing better under the former president than it is now under Biden and Harris, she said.

    “They book those bigger projects that we used to do,” Sutherland said of her clients. “Instead of doing a whole deck, maybe (they) do like replacing the board.”

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