Novi Elections 2012: Cadwell, O'Connor Elected to School Board

The results are in.

Novi voters have elected Tracey Cadwell and incumbent Dennis O'Connor to serve six-year terms on the Novi Board of Education.

"I'm just honored to have that position and that title and to work with the community and the school system," Cadwell said.

O'Connor said he was extremely humbled by his margin of victory and that the voters in the district support his work on the school board in the past.

"Novi schools are ranked highly and they're on the right track, and that was really a powerful message that I had and a great record to run on when you're an incumbent, so I'm really honored that the voters in the Novi School District decided to re-elect me for another term on the board," he said.

Voters also re-elected Kathy Crawford to serve as Oakland County Commissioner for Novi's district and her husband, Hugh Crawford, for Michigan's House of Representatives.

According to Novi City Clerk Maryanne Cornelius, turnout at the polls in Novi was approximately 75 percent on Tuesday.

For more election coverage, including results for the U.S. Congressional races, check our coverage of Michigan elections and Oakland County elections.

Check back with Patch on Wednesday for more details from the races, including quotes from the candidates.

LIVE 2012 NOVI ELECTION RESULTS

These are the unofficial results:

Chuck Tindall, Democrat

>>Connect with Novi Patch on Facebook and Twitter.  Sign up for the Novi Patch newsletter.

Patch covered the elections throughout the day, right up until the final local votes were reported. Here's what was happening at the polls Tuesday:

12:25 a.m. Wednesday: Unofficial results are reported.

8:01 p.m. Polls are now closed. Check back with Patch later tonight for the results.

4:35 p.m. Precinct 2 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church has had 936 voters so far, according to Precinct Chair Ben Drafta. The Precinct has also had a group of challengers from the Republican Party at the polls all day. The challengers monitor the voters to safeguard against fraud, but Drafta said they haven't made any challenges today.

3 p.m. Precinct 15 at St. James Catholic Church has had 733 ballots cast so far. The precinct usually has the highest voter turnout in Novi, typically around 80-90 percent of registered voters, said Precinct Chair Steve Cook. He expects the precinct will have 1100-1200 votes cast by the end of the day, with another 400 being cast as absentee, out of a total 1874 registered voters for the precinct. Cook said the line was longest in the morning when about 100 people were in line. The first two voters arrived at 5:40 a.m. But even at the line's longest, Cook said the wait was only 20 minutes. Cook said the extra voting booths provided by the clerk's office have helped keep wait times down with the long ballot this election. Although, he said one man took 40 minutes to complete his ballot. Cook expects traffic to pick up around 5 p.m. but said the day has run without any problems. "It's been pretty uneventful, which is the way we like it," he said.

12:45 p.m. Precinct 13 at the Instructional Technology Center sees a lull in what is otherwise a steady stream of voters. Precinct Chair Ed Vedro said turnout is good, although not as high as it was in 2008. "We have lots of fun here," he said.

10 a.m. An exit poll is being conducted outside of Deerfield Elementary School. Every third person is being asked to share their voting experience by filling out a survey.

9:30 a.m. The line to vote at Precinct 16 at the Novi Public Library snakes around the lobby. Library Director Julie Farkas said people arrived as early as 6:20 a.m., and the line was out the door this morning. She said she does not expect the turnout to slow down much throughout the day. This is the first time the library has been a precinct for a presidential election. Farkas said she asked for the library to host a precinct to show off the now 2-year-old building. She said some people who voted today said it was their first time in the new library.

8:45 a.m. The wait to vote at Precinct 17 and 18 at the Novi Civic Center is estimated to be 15-20 minutes. Precinct 18 Chair Linda Byrnes said more than 150 residents voted within the first hour at the polls. She said the high turnout is average for a presidential election. She also added that although the ballot is long, voting has run smoothly. "Our clerk's office is very organized, which contributed to the efficiency of this election," Byrnes said.

7 a.m. Polls open. Novi City Clerk Maryanne Cornelius expects the most crowded times to vote to be 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Cornelius said that more than 9,000 absentee ballots were issued this year, surpassing 2008's numbers.

You can find more about the races in from Tuesday's election on our Novi Election Guide.