Frustration with access to voter information in Wayne County

Who filed for Wayne County offices?

This should be easily available to the public, especially civic-minded groups like the League of Women Voters. The deadline was May 13; withdrawal deadline May 16.Members of our Voter Service committee (LWVDDH) have been calling the Elections dept. of the Wayne County Clerk's office, every few days since to ask when it will be posted on their website, hearing "on Wednesday", "in the next few days", "next week."On June 3,"Gil" in the Elections Dept., said that if we want a copy of the candidates who will be on the August Primary ballot, we must go in person to the City County Bldg., room 502, and pay 25 cents a sheet -there are 94 sheets, but we can go through them and pick out the local municipalities (or county-wide races) we want to copy.

He doesn't know when it will be on line. I asked why it was being kept secret, and he said it's not, it's available to anyone who comes in person and pays 25 cents a sheet for the results. Mon-Fri. 8-4:30.

We want the (1) county-wide Wayne County races, the (2) 9th and 13th district Wayne County Commissioner races, and (3) the list of precinct delegates in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, and anything else that will be on our ballots that only Wayne County clerk's office has access to?

I never want to publicly print, in the name of the League of Women Voters, information I don't have from the official source. That State of Michigan Secretary of State's office has fabulous information, on line, fully accessible, at www.michigan.gov/sos, which includes all the many and confusing judicial races, as well as the other races we face in both the primary and general 2008 elections. The local city clerks offices in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights are always helpful, and give access to public information right after the filing deadlines. It is a real disservice to the people of Wayne County that public access, prior to the ballots being printed, is not readily available to interested citizens and groups.

P.S. Today, the morning of June 5, 3 weeks after the filing deadlines have passed, the information is still not on-line.
Betsy Cushman