There were plenty of things noticeable about Tuesday's primary election.
At the South Washington Office Complex in Lansing, there was hardly a crowd and plenty of parking to be had.
Something hard to go unnoticed were new voting machines making their debut statewide.
“Those little black machines were my enemy up until today,” said Pat Hiller, voting at the precinct. “I have never until today got one to take it on the first try.”
“It was very smooth, I liked it,” said Hiller.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope was breathing a sigh of relief, knowing primary Tuesday could have been nightmare Tuesday.
The company providing the new equipment, Election Source, was on hand Tuesday in case things went south.
“We haven't seen any major issues,” said Swope. “The ballots are going in, they're counting the ballots and the voters seem receptive to just sliding in their ballot.”
Voters were also receptive to the machines new interface as well.
“I noticed it had an LCD screen that told you your vote was casted,” said Jim Loepke, who stopped by to place his vote. “It wasn't like you just fed it in there and well hoped it went through.”
Turnout wasn't high but the confidence of elections officials certainly was.
These new voting machines are here to stay, at least for the next few years.
More than 6,000 absentee ballots were issued in the city of Lansing for primary Tuesday.
The city says it's still waiting on about 700 absentee ballots to be returned.
