A night plagued with computer breakdowns, unanswered phones and hand-counted ballots left candidates for the 70th District state House seat holding their breath until early this morning.
But the wait was worth it to Democrat Gretchen Whitmer - who wound up victorious.
The outcome of the race between Whitmer and Republican Bill Hollister, both East Lansing natives, took much longer to tally than many of the other races being closely watched.
Bill McCullough, a Meridian Township supervisor candidate, sponsored a write-in campaign, which had to be hand counted. Hand counting the 70th District ballots was a time-consuming process because half of the district is in Meridian Township. McCullough, who lost in the primary race last spring, received zero percent of the votes.
Whitmer, an East Lansing-based attorney, held a 2,000 vote lead over Hollister, an East Lansing attorney, with 29 of 34 precincts reporting.
Whitmer’s attitude was upbeat in spite of the delays. She said she expected the race to be close - and that had made her nervous and excited.
“We were pretty much expecting everything to be close,” she said late Tuesday night. “When we win a precinct, it makes me happy.”
She attributed her success to a positive campaign and addressing issues voters care about.
“I think we all care about public education and Michigan State University,” she said. “And I think that running a clean, positive campaign paid off.”
Despite Whitmer’s lead throughout the night, Hollister supporters were still in high spirits.
Erik O. Furseth, the voice of Spartan basketball since 1968, said he was supporting Hollister because he’s come to know him well since the two served on the Lansing Community College board.
“I’ve known Bill for 20 years,” Furseth said. “I’m behind him because he’s an honest man with lots of integrity.”
Hollister said that whether he won or lost, he is happy to be living in East Lansing.
“It’s been a wonderful experience, especially being involved with the students at MSU,” he said. “They were clearly the best part of the campaign, and I hope they stay involved and interested.”
Whitmer said while voter turnout among students was high, the overall voter turnout was not what she expected. She attributes that to Michigan voter registration laws that require matching addresses on voter registration cards and driver’s licenses and what she said was voter intimidation from Republicans who support that law.
“We were expecting a really good student turnout this year - much higher than normal,” said Dan Curran, Whitmer’s campaign manager. “Voter registration drives on campus were much more successful than in the past.”
Both candidates and their victory parties glued their eyes to the television and their ears to the phone, waiting for numbers to roll in.
Hollister campaign manager Brook Kawchak, a physiology junior, said her candidate was better-suited because he is a kind, caring man.
“The intensity between all of the people here is amazing,” Kawchak said. “Everyone is cheering and so excited. I met Bill and he swept me off my feet. I’ve never been involved in politics before , but how he spoke, he was so excited to change things and to make tuition more affordable for students which inspired me.”
