Oakland County, Michigan, November 27, 2007 -- In what is believed to be a "first," the county clerks for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties met Tuesday to look at ways they can work together to improve elections.

Ruth Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk/Register, was joined by Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh and Wayne County Clerk Cathy M. Garrett.

"Do we agree on everything? No," said Ruth Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk/Register. "But we're going to work on the things we do agree on - what's best for voters. Every vote, every voice, needs to be heard."

Together, the clerks represent nearly half of Michigan's 7.1 million registered voters. The group is bipartisan - Johnson is a Republican while her fellow clerks are Democrats. Each woman, all veteran political figures, agreed to leave politics at the door.

"We look forward to working together to benefit our citizens," said Sabaugh. "We all agree on how important elections are to Democracy."

"This collaborative meeting of the clerks from the three largest counties was long overdue and the first of many to come," said Garrett. "It's not about party affiliation; it's all about good government."

The clerks already joined efforts earlier this week to fight proposed legislation that would have changed school election dates, undermining progress that has been made toward consolidated elections. They supported a proposal that would have saved the state as much as $6 million annually and improved voter turnout by "piggybacking" school board elections onto state and general elections.

Issues discussed Tuesday included challenges with new voting machines to the Presidential Primary election, training, consistent reporting of school election results and absent voter application form policy.
 
The group will be meeting on a regular basis. Johnson can be contacted at
(248) 858-0560. Sabaugh can be reached at (586) 469-7939 and Garrett can be contacted at (313) 224-6262.