Biochemistry freshman Aaron Jafri, who decided to utilize the early voting system for his first election as an eligible voter, said that he was satisfied with the candidates available to him, but he wished there was more substantive information provided about them to voters.

“I feel like you have to go out of your way to learn about candidates,” Jafri said. “And I think that's really messed up. ... I noticed that a vast majority of the political ads are just politicians bad-mouthing each other, and nobody says anything about what they're actually going to do.”

Political ads have been especially prevalent this year, taking up space on streaming platforms like Hulu as well as on local television. In the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, voters have complained about the sheer volume of ads in what quickly became the country’s most expensive congressional race between U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Michigan Sen. Tom Barrett.

Human biology senior Sumana Tangirala said that she was happy with the candidates she cast her ballot for, but that, in spite of reading up on candidates beforehand, she felt less informed about various down-ballot races. She said she plans to do more research the next time she votes. 

“I feel like there was a lot of stuff on the ballot that needed a decision, and I did my research,” Tangirala said. “So I was very happy with how I voted.”

Elena Greer, the Youth Vice Chair for the Michigan Democratic Party, said that in the past, voters have had trouble finding information on down-ballot races, especially non-partisan ones like local school boards or judicial seats. She feels that there’s been improvement in that this year. 

“We've been getting a lot of great mail on all of our local school board candidates, so that they've done a very good job informing everyone about the down-ballot races, which I think hasn’t happened until pretty recently,” Greer said. “It's a good sign, because normally, I'd be Googling them last minute.”

Psychology senior Hannah Campau, who said she voted for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said that the decision on who to vote for was easy and that she was able to change her registration to East Lansing without any complications.

Human biology senior Jenan Shareef, who was voting alongside Campau, said that she knew long before Election Day that she wouldn’t be voting for Tudor Dixon for governor.

“I haven’t looked at who was her running mate,” Shareef said.