ON THE ROAD
WITH TONY...
Welcome to our September newsletter!
As we celebrate Fall, the Clerk's Office is busy preparing for the 2024 Presidential Election in November.
We believe the Macomb County Clerk's office has set a new standard for customer service and integrity of our elections.
This upcoming election, Macomb County will have first ever watermarked paper ballots, and we have launched the first ever County wide election worker training to assist local clerks and standardize election day workers competency. Competent workers are the backbone to protect our election process.
Macomb County is the only county to do a Forensic Audit of our election server for the 2020 elections. This allowed us to set up new enhanced protocols for future elections.
We've also introduced the first ever Campaign Finance Electronic Filing System, which reduces unneeded bureaucracy saving the county money and helps make campaign finance reports more accurate and easier to be compliant.
All these changes have helped restore confidence in our elections, while other election law changes like "Early In-Person Voting" have made it more convenient for our voters to submit safe, tabulated ballots. Voters can also submit their absentee ballots at Early Voting locations, and have them safely tabulated in-person!
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Tract Index Update:
Scaling the Mountain of Data
Starting this September, searching through 5.6 million Register of Deeds documents by property location has become much easier, thanks to the Tract Index project. This initiative, led by Clerk Forlini’s office, has been working to allow for property-based searches instead of name-based ones.
One of the major challenges was addressing the 9 million historical land records already hosted by the Macomb County Clerk/Register of Deeds department. By leveraging data analytics, the project achieved a cost savings of $12 million, avoiding the need for a large team of manual indexers, which would have taken over 30 years.
The recent update has added new property search terms to documents that previously couldn’t be searched by location, including subdivision names, lot numbers, city names, and more. Additionally, the Parcel ID has been standardized across the entire system, allowing for consistent searches regardless of the recording date.
While the project is not yet complete, updating over half of the records within two years is a significant milestone. The final piece will be the activation of the automated indexing tool, powered by validated County land data and the Tract Index Search, which will align property searches with the same data. These enhancements are expected to be available before the end of the year.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to revolutionize the way you search land records!
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Clerk Visits Senior Health Expo
Clerk Forlini attended the third annual Senior Health Expo in Harrison Township, held in partnership with PACE Southeast Michigan and Heritage Law PLLC at the Tucker Senior Center on Tuesday, Sept. 10. This outdoor event featured food, free giveaways, and more. Clerk Forlini informed seniors about the Fraud Notify program, a free service which aids in protecting Macomb County homeowner's real estate from potential fraud. The expo provided valuable resources and information to seniors in the community.
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Impact Business Community Vendor Show
 Clerk Forlini and his team attended the Impact Business Community Vendor Show at the historic Packard Proving Ground. The event offered B2B networking opportunities and featured food, drinks, music, and raffles. Proceeds from the event went to support iCare of Michigan, an organization dedicated to providing immediate financial assistance to families in crisis who have no other resources to turn to. The event brought local businesses together while supporting a meaningful cause.
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Clerk's Office Participates in Annual Richmond Area 'Good Old Days' Parade
 Clerk Forlini and Clerk's Office staff members and friends participated in the annual Richmond Area Good Old Days Parade in September. The Good Old Days Festival has been held each year since 1964. The Festival is known for offering a wide variety of events, including motor sports, carnival and fireworks, throughout the festival's four days. The festival is always the weekend after Labor Day, and runs from Thursday through Sunday.
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Clerk Forlini discusses recent changes in election law for the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election for members of the Anchor Bay Chamber of Commerce at Little Camille's By The Green. Topics included "Early In-Person Voting" and the introduction of water-marked ballots to increase election security. Clerk Forlini also demonstrated how ballots are tabulated using an actual election tabulator. Early Voting will begin on Saturday, October 26th and end on Sunday, November 3rd. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5th.
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Clerk's Office Staff Members Celebrate September Birthdays In Style
 
Clerk's Office September birthdays included (top photo from left) Michelle Strey, Colleen Baumgarten and Shirley Maniaci. Also celebrating a September Birthday was Deputy Register of Deeds Jennifer Walker (photo at right), who celebrated her birthday while attending the Michigan Association of Register of Deeds (MARD) conference on Mackinac Island.
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Clerk's Office Staff Members Honored for
Years of Cumulative Service to the County
 Clerk Forlini recently presented two Clerk's Office staff members with certificates recognizing "Years of Cumulative Service" in Macomb County. Carlee Kling (left) and Emily Kondek both reached the five-year milestone of service to the County.
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Early In-Person Voting for Upcoming November 3rd Presidential Election!
Early voting allows a voter to cast and tabulate their ballot in person, prior to Election Day, in an experience similar to voting on Election Day.
Early Voting will be open to all Macomb County voters leading up to the November 5, 2024 Election, Early Voting will begin on Saturday, October 26th and end on Sunday, November 3rd.
Each community has their own specific early voting site and hours. For more information, contact your local city/township clerk or visit:
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