City of Kalamazoo adds 760 new voters before election

Cheers to The One Kalamazoo campaign who apparently busted their butts who registered 670 new voters.  Here's hoping many of those are affiliated with WMU and supportive of the city ordinance. 

By Kathy Jessup

Kalamazoo Gazette
October 07, 2009, 6:48AM

KALAMAZOO — A record-setting number of new voter registrations from Kalamazoo’s two college campuses have been submitted by supporters of a gay-rights ordinance that will be decided in the Nov. 3 election.

The Kalamazoo City Clerk’s office reported nearly 760 new-voter applications were filed by Monday’s deadline, compared to fewer than 50 that are typically received in an odd-year city election.  Kalamazoo City Clerk Scott Borling said that “nearly all” of the new voter registrations submitted Friday and Monday listed addresses on or near the campuses of Western Michigan University or Kalamazoo College. City workers were in the process Tuesday of recording those new voters.

On Nov. 3, voters will decide the future of a city ordinance to ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals in housing, employment and public accommodations. City Commission candidates and a Metro Transit tax also will be on the ballot. 

Jon Hoadley, campaign director for One Kalamazoo, the organization formed to push for passage of the nondiscrimination ordinance, said the group has been working to register new voters.  “Staff and volunteers had voter registration forms on hand in the office, at events, and in key locations around the city like Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College,” Hoadley said. “We definitely made a concerted effort to register more voters at as many events as we could.”