Holly Fournier, Jonathan Oosting, Chad Livengood, Keith Laing, and Kim Kozlowski

The Detroit News

With all polls closed, it's known a large number of Michigan voters weighed in on the presidential primary. For the latest totals, check here.

Secretary of state officials projected roughly 2 million of the state’s 7.4 million voters went to the polls or cast ballots. That translates to about 27 percent turnout, up from 19.7 percent in 2012 and the highest since before 1980, according to the secretary of state’s website.

Clinton supporters optimistic

The crowd of Clinton supporters gathered at Detroit’s R.U.B. BBQ Pub on W. Adams Avenue continues to build Tuesday night.

Supporters of the Democratic candidate have packed the restaurant, donning stickers and buttons and displaying posters as they mingle and dine on a snack food buffet lined with cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip and chicken wings.

Among the early guests Tuesday evening are Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, Council member Janee Ayers and Westland Mayor William Wild.

It’s early, but Jones is confident that Clinton will prevail.

“I am expecting Hillary to come out as a winner in Michigan,” Jones said shortly after entering the party. “We’re just waiting.”

At-large council member Janee Ayers said shortly before she stopped in tonight she said she was encouraged today to see lines at city polling locations and that the momentum continues to build for Clinton’s campaign.

“She’s on the train. The train is moving,” she said. “I support the Hillary train. It’s a first. Right now we have an opportunity for the first woman to be there and follow the first African American (president).”

Ayers added she’s been pleased with Clinton’s focus within the state and on the issues of Detroit Public Schools and the community of Flint.

“I’ve heard it and I’m pleased with what her responses were, but at the end of the day we’ll see what happens,” she said. “When it comes to overall policy and a plan, I’m definitely sold there. But when it comes to just hometown issues, she has 50 states to take care of so we’ll see how that happens. Hopefully she’ll revisit some of these things if she progresses to president.”

Ann Arbor resident Jason Morgan, a Democrat running for commissioner in Washtenaw County’s 8th District, also joined in the Tuesday night celebration.

He’s spent months aiding the Clinton campaign and manages the Michigan for Hillary Facebook page.

Voters worried about the economy?

Two-thirds of Michiganders who cast ballots in Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primaries are worried about the economy, according to exit polls released by CNN.

The poll found a majority of voters in Michigan expressed concern about trade with foreign nations taking jobs away from the U.S.

Nearly 90 percent of Michigan voters said they are dissatisfied with the federal government, while a third said they are “angry” with their current leaders in Washington.

Among Republicans on the controversial topic of immigration, a majority of voters said they support allowing people who are here illegally to apply for legal status with the U.S., according to the exit polling.

Approximately 50 percent of voters in Tuesday’s primary were white and described themselves as evangelicals. A majority of those voters said it is important to support a candidate that shares their beliefs.

When do Mich. polls really close?

The common perception is that Michigan's polling places close at 8 p.m. But perception is not reality.

In most of the state, the polls do close at 8 p.m. Eastern time. But some precincts in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula are located in the Central time zone and don't close until 9 p.m. Eastern.

As a result, the Associated Press won't call the Michigan Democratic and Republican primaries until after 9 p.m.

The practice of not predicting election results until the polls close became more standard after the 1980 presidential election. As Republican challenger Ronald Reagan was winning near landslide-support in the Eastern and Midwestern states over President Jimmy Carter, the television networks called the election.

The problem was that the polls were still open in the West. Democrats blamed the predictions of Reagan's victory on driving Democratic voters away in the West and exacerbating Democratic losses down the ticket.

The issue was revisted in the 2000 election when some television networks projected that Democrat Al Gore had won Florida even though the western tip of the state was still voting past the 8 p.m. poll closing in the eastern part of the state.

Cruz took one last question on Flint

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was two hours late to his election eve rally last night near Grand Rapids due to plane trouble, and he took what was supposed to be his last question from reporters at nearly midnight. But as he turned to walk away, a reporter asked one last question about the Flint water crisis, and Cruz decided to turn around.

“It was a failure at every level of government,” said Cruz, who then set his sights on the Environmental Protection Agency, suggesting the federal department has lost its focus due to directives from meddlesome politicians.

“If I am elected president, you will see federal regulators focused on their key responsibilities, in terms of the environment protecting the water and protecting the air, not killing jobs,” he said. “Not making it harder to provide for your family, but making sure that when you turn the drinking water on, you can drink it without endangering your family.”

Cruz was expected to quickly board a plan and leave Michigan for his next campaign stop in another state. By that time, it was officially Election Day.

Voters discuss issues that matter most

At the Ferndale Public Library, Royal Oak resident Robert Herd was checking out books. He cast his vote earlier in the day for businessman Donald Trump.

"He talks the straight talk, man," Herd, 58, said. "Obama made a wimp out of this country by kowtowing to other countries."

Herd, who works as resource clerk at the Urban League, said Trump is leading the country in the right direction.

"We need to get back to traditions, American values," Herd said. "Donald says you're not legal, you're getting out. We're building a wall. The illegal aliens coming here and bringing all the crime."

Trump is talking the right stuff, Herd said, and he believes he'll do what he's promising if he's elected.

"The Democrats tell you what you want to hear," Herd said. "Then they get in there and do something different. Obama did the same thing."

Also at the Ferndale Public Library, where voters in precinct 5 were casting ballots, Jason Trezil said he voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Though Trezil, 34, was raised In a Republican family, he has been voting Democratic in recent presidential elections and said Sanders is driving the nation's conversation to the left, where he thinks it ought to be.

"He's raising the bar," said Trezil, "and shifting focus in the Democratic Party. Even if he doesn't win, he's creating more awareness in the party about important issues."

Trezil said there needs to be more attention on economic and social policies, and transparency in international trade agreements.

As a former student who attended Western Michigan University and is now saddled with more than $100,000 in student loan debt, Trezil said that he likes Sanders' policies about free college tuition.

"Even if it's not free, if it's more affordable, more accessible, that's important," said Trezil, who works as an industrial designer at New Vintage USA in Ferndale.

Also at Precinct 5 in Ferndale, Vanessa Salmo was planning to vote for Hillary Clinton.

After watching the debates, Salmo, 24, said Clinton's views dovetail with hers, especially on issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

"Although she did change some of her views, they are consistent with what I believe in," said Salmo, a scribe at a dermatology clinic in Detroit.

Additionally, Salmo said that Clinton can beat Trump, and that's important.

"Donald Trump is insane," Salmo said. "And a racist."

Salmo also likes that Clinton is a woman but she stressed that's not the driving force behind her vote.

"We had a black president, why not a woman?" Salmo said. "It'd be cool to see that happen."

At Derby Middle School in Birmingham, Wendy Anderson cast her vote for Sen. Ted Cruz, to stop the candidacy of Trump.

"Cruz will be the person who could beat Trump," said Anderson, a 42-year-old program manager for Dell.

A self-described right-wing Republican and staunch pro-lifer, Anderson said the two candidates she favors are Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. But neither are doing well in the polls, so she said she didn't want to help Trump. Instead, she wanted to give her vote to the candidate who had the best chance of beating Trump — whom she envisions inflicting damage on the Republican Party and the country with his temperament.

"Trump is not doing justice to the Republican Party," Anderson said. "He will divide our nation. We need someone to unite it."

TV spending tops $8M in Michigan

Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and their allies have spent more than $8 million on broadcast television advertising in Michigan, surpassing the $6.4 million spent in the 2012 Republican primary.

Through Sunday, more than $8 million in ads had been aired in Michigan TV markets, led by $3.5 million in advertising Democrat Bernie Sanders aired in his bid to upset frontrunner Hillary Clinton, according the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

The Michigan Campaign Finance Network gets its data from the media advertisement tracking firm Kantar Media. The $8 million total is expected to rise when Monday and Tuesday ad spending is accounted for.

The Clinton campaign had aired $2.6 million in ads through Sunday. The Detroit News first reported March 1 that Sanders was outspending Clinton in Michigan in a campaign focused on Flint's water crisis and economic issues.

About $6 million of the TV spending occurred from Feb. 29 through Sunday, including $2.3 million in Sanders ads, according to Kantar Media’s tracking data.

The Sanders campaign had aired more than 7,000 ads in Michigan through Sunday, nearly 30 percent more airtime than Clinton bought.

The data doesn’t include lower-cost cable or radio advertising. Clinton and Sanders began airing dueling radio ads Monday, sparring over Sanders’ vote against the funding source of the 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

On the Republican side, the TV ad war has been fought between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and his allied super political action committee and the Super PAC supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The pro-Rubio spent $1.2 million on ads through Sunday, Kantar Media data shows.

Kasich and the pro-Kasich Super PAC New Day for America spent $770,353.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump began airing TV ads over the weekend, with a limited $184,636 ad buy, according to Kantar Media’s data.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas spent just $1,112 for a handful of TV ads.

Ferndale feels some 'Bern'

Fendale was feeling a little Bern in Tuesday afternoon voting as a Detroit News editor ran into two Bernie Sanders voters outside the Kulick Community Center.

One of them was Jeff Farrah, a college professor who lives in Ferndale, who said he voted for the U.S. senator from Vermont in Michigan's Democratic presidential primary because "I like his entire platform and stands on the issues."

The 56-year-old Farrah said he was casting more of a vote for Sanders than a vote against Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

"I liked Bernie Sanders better," he said. "If I had to vote for her in the general (election), I would."

Kasich runs Romney anti-Trump call

Marco Rubio’s campaign isn’t alone in funding anti-Donald Trump automated phone calls voiced by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Ohio Gov. John Kasich acknowledged Tuesday that his campaign is also paying for Romney robocalls in Michigan.

Kasich, who has stressed positivity on the campaign trail and largely avoided trading barbs with Trump, said he did not want Michigan voters to assume Romney was backing Rubio because the rival Republican campaign was paying for the calls.

“Gov. Romney is kind of recording robocalls for everyone, and I didn’t want somebody to think he favored one person over me, because he doesn’t. It’s his words. I don’t write his scripts.”

As The Detroit News previously reported, the Rubio campaign sent out a round of 45-second robocalls Monday night to Republican households across the state.

“I believe these are critical times that demand a serious, thoughtful commander-in-chief,” Romney said in the message. “If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, I believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished.”

'Loud-mouth activist' in Romulus

Voter, activist and former city councilman Charles Miller, 72, said he has stood outside Romulus City Hall for hours after voting when polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Miller, who served on the council in the 1980s, said he is against the proposed 10-year, $25 million bond for neighborhood street improvements, and wants fellow voters to know it.

"My problem with Romulus is we're already taxed too high for the amenities that we have in the community," said Miller, who stood holding a "Vote No on Taxes" sign. "The downtown is on life support, even though they spent a good deal of money on it."

Miller does not dispute the proposed tax likely would help improve the roads, but argued the issue should have been fixed gradually, years ago, and without taking money from blue-collar citizens.

"(City officials) are reactive, not proactive," he said. "(They think) when it's broke, we'll ask the citizens to dip into their pockets deeper to fix the problem."

Residents Michelle Bilicki, 45, and Joe Wieland, 49, disagreed. The husband and wife briefly stopped by city hall before learning their polling place was located at a nearby school.

The couple also aren't in favor of the road millage, but for different reasons than Miller.

"I just don't think the streets are bad," Bilicki said.

But Miller criticized the city for what he said was a lack of services, including what he described as a failed downtown, absence of free recreation and grocery stores.

"There's nothing that makes a real city in Romulus," he said. "It's a city to go through, not go to."

The former city councilman said he was devoted to spreading his word Tuesday.

"I'm here to make my opinion known that I'm not in favor of any more taxes. Enough," he said. "I've voted ever since I was old enough to vote; never missed one. I've been a loud-mouth activist for more than 40 years."

Trump 'tells the truth,' Romulus supporters say

Voters and Trump supporters Michelle Bilicki, 45, and Joe Wieland, 49, briefly stopped at Romulus City Hall on Tuesday before learning their polling place was at a nearby school.

"We're just here to make sure Trump gets into office," Bilicki said of herself and husband Wieland. "I just think he's got great ideas and great goals for America."

Both Bilicki and Wieland indicated they were not bothered by blowback surrounding many of Trump's more controversial remarks along the campaign trail.

"I don't get offended by anything he says," Bilicki said. "He tells the truth and people don't want to hear it. That's the problem."

'Safer' road through Birmingham

In the midst of a national presidential nomination battle, several Birmingham voters turned out to Holy Name Catholic Church on Harmon Street near North Old Woodward Avenue focused on a local city charter question.

The issue at hand involved a six-month trial that transformed a mile of four-lane West Maple Road into three lanes with a left-hand turn lane. Voters Tuesday were asked whether the project should be reversed and the road returned to four lanes, two in each direction.

"I weighed on that heavily," said Kenneth Harris, 60. "(The project) would provide another lane instead of (motorists) waiting for someone to turn left. I think it would make it a lot safer, personally."

Agreeing with Harris were Bob and Melissa Przybylo, who live within a block of the stretch of road in question, between Southfield and Cranbrook roads.

"It's definitely been a lot safer," Bob Przybylo, 45, said of the trial, three-lane period that began in the fall. "There are fewer accidents now that we have a left turn lane."

His wife agreed.

"It has slowed people down," said Melissa Przybylo, 38.

The couple disputed critics of the change who claim the switch would lead to increased congestion and more traffic cutting through the neighborhoods.

"We haven't been seeing any increase in traffic," Bob Przybylo said. "And (West Maple) gets congested but it moves. The congestion isn't as bad as they predicted it would be."

The couple also criticized the method behind the proposal to reverse the left-turn lane plan.

"I think it's preposterous that 1,000 signatures could possibly change the city charter," Bob Przybylo said.

But another resident, Laura Sherman, disagreed.

"I don't know why they changed it (to three lanes) because it wasn't a problem in the first place," Sherman said on her way into the building to cast her vote to revert the road back to four lanes.

A candidate who will 'do the least damage'

Bob Przybylo, 45, said his vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Republican primary was designed to stop Donald Trump in his tracks.

"There are so many clowns in the race, you're trying to find the one that can do the least damage," he said. "Trump scares me."

Przybylo also panned Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as "career politicians...talking out of both sides of their mouths."

Meanwhile, voter Laura Sherman did not hesitate to share her support for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"I want her to clinch the nomination as soon as possible, so Michigan would be a big win for her," Sherman said. "I voted for Obama in 2008 and I feel that she would continue his policies.

"I'm really voting for Obama, his third term."

Voter Kenneth Harris, 60, did not reveal his vote in the presidential primary, but hinted at motivations behind his choice.

"I think it's very important to vote because it's a very delicate election coming up," said Harris, adding he was looking for a "proper and respectable" candidate for president.

"I take the right to vote very seriously," he said. "And the privilege, as well."

Voting, so far, 'easy and quick'

Low turnout and no lines greeted early-bird voters at Roseville's Huron Park Elementary School on Marquette Street near Interstate 94 and 11 Mile Road.

"They made it really easy and quick," first-time Michigan voter Tabitha Taylor said. The 32-year-old mother of three previously has cast votes in Virginia and Texas.

She hit the polls early Tuesday with 9-month-old daughter Everleigh, after dropping off her 10- and 8-year-olds at a nearby school.

The one-time Republican has crossed the aisle, she said.

"This year it's Democrat so it's very different for me, but I guess things change," she said of her vote in the presidential primary. "I'm very anti-Trump. I voted for Bernie Sanders and I have no problem saying that this year."

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'Best resources' for Roseville emergency services

First-time voter Marika Vanicelli said she studied each candidate before casting her vote early Tuesday at Roseville's Huron Park Elementary School on Marquette Street near Interstate 94 and 11 Mile Road.

"Especially with the presidential primary, this is the most I've ever felt about an election," said Vanicelli, 29. "I've being doing more research, talking about it, reading more, just trying to make an educated decision instead of none at all."

Vanicelli cast her vote alongside friend and roommate Robert Ardelan, 28. The pair did not share their votes in the presidential primary.

But Ardelan indicated he voted to renew a 0.35 mill tax for 20 years to support the city's emergency medical services.

"If an emergency happens, I'm going to want the best fire department with the best resources available," he said.

Polls open for Michigan primary

Polls are now open for voting in the Michigan primary.