Election 2026 · Upper Peninsula
Drummond Island chases 100% voter turnout Tuesday: what is on its ballot, from a DeTour schools millage to the county’s 8 mills
DRUMMOND ISLAND, Mich. — A group of Drummond Island residents wants every one of the island’s 1,116 registered voters to cast a ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and they are making the pitch with local questions, not national ones.
Voting is harder here than in most of Michigan. Drummond Island Township has one precinct for 134 square miles, Michigan Public reported, and early in-person voting is not offered on the island. It is in Kincheloe, on the mainland. “That is a 50-mile one-way trip off the island,” Township Supervisor Krystal Truax told the station, with a ferry fare on top. Sunday, Nov. 1, is the last day of early voting statewide.
Islanders already vote at higher rates than the state as a whole: 74% turned out in the 2024 presidential election and 63% in the 2022 midterm, according to Michigan Public.
Who is behind the push
The effort began with Bob Chunn, a technology entrepreneur who moved to the island during the pandemic and started Ballot Power, a voter-education nonprofit. About 350 of the island’s registered voters skipped both the 2024 and 2022 general elections, according to the Detroit Free Press. Volunteers are sending reminders, knocking on doors and helping set up rides to the polls.
When he meets people who are tired of politics, Chunn told Michigan Public, he tells them to skip the races they don’t care about. “But vote for the millage, the schools,” he said. Resident Tom Salwoski told the station he had stayed home because “everything feels national,” but that learning about the local questions changed his mind.
What is on the island’s ballot
The school measure Chunn is promoting is the DeTour Area Schools operating millage, which is also on the ballot in DeTour and Raber townships. According to the ballot language, it would renew 18.3270 mills and add 0.5 mill for eight years, 2027 through 2034. It applies to all property except principal residences, so it falls on businesses, second homes and other non-homestead property, not on year-round residents’ homes. The district estimates it would collect about $3,268,194 in 2027 at 18 mills. The added half-mill and the rest of the cushion above 18 mills can be levied only to make up for rollbacks required by the state constitution, the ballot says.
Voters will also pick up to two DeTour Area Schools board members from three candidates: Glenn Campbell, Natalie Fairchild and Brad Kuusinen. Countywide, they decide whether to renew the 8-mill tax limitation that funds Chippewa County, its townships and the intermediate school district through 2030, the same question we laid out in October.
The polls on the island are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters can see their exact ballot at Michigan.gov/Vote.
Sources:
Michigan Public, “Drummond Island, off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, chases 100% voter turnout” (Nov. 1, 2026; Truax, Chunn and Salwoski quotes, turnout figures), https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2026-11-01/drummond-island-off-michigans-upper-peninsula-chases-100-voter-turnout
Detroit Free Press photo gallery via Yahoo News, “On a mission to get an entire island to vote” (Oct. 29–30, 2026; about 350 voters who skipped 2024 and 2022), https://www.yahoo.com/news/slideshows/mission-entire-island-vote-100803749.html
Drummond Township sample ballot, Nov. 3, 2026, as republished from the Secretary of State sample ballot (school board candidates, county and school proposals), https://www.offorandbythepeople.com/michigan/chippewa/drummond-township/
DeTour Area Schools operating millage proposal, official ballot language, https://www.offorandbythepeople.com/michigan/chippewa/proposals/detour-detour-area-schools-operating-millage-proposal/
Photo: The Drummond Islander IV ferry, Corvair Owner, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Drummond_Islander_IV_ferry_approaches_the_dock_--_Drummond_Island_in_Winter.jpg
More from Upper Peninsula
Sports · October 31, 2026
Northern Michigan and the U.P.: High school football playoff scores, district semifinals
East Jordan ended Iron Mountain’s season 42-35, Bark River-Harris and Kingsley rolled and Cadillac beat Marquette. Verified MHSAA playoff finals from Northern Michigan and the U.P., plus Saturday’s games.
News · October 28, 2026
Mohawk Secretary of State office moves to Tuesdays only starting Nov. 10: what Keweenaw drivers need to know
Michigan’s northernmost branch, on US-41 in Mohawk, trades its one weekly Thursday for Tuesdays. It is closed Thursday, Nov. 5. Here are the hours, the Houghton backup office and the grocery-store kiosk.
Michigan Travel · October 23, 2026
Escanaba Halloween wrestling: Nightmare at the Chamber III, Oct. 31
UPW Pro Wrestling brings eight matches, two title bouts and a kids’ costume contest to the Delta County Chamber of Commerce on Halloween night. Doors open at 6 p.m. Here are tickets, the card and tips for families.
News · October 22, 2026
Twelve U.P. and northern Michigan fire departments split $2.19 million in federal grants as the DNR warns fire risk is still high
Stephenson’s $761,904 for breathing gear for seven volunteer departments and Dafter Township’s $490,780 tanker replacement top the list. The same day, the DNR said warm, windy weather keeps late-season wildfire risk high for deer camp and ORV riders.