The Birmingham Ice Arena (former Precinct 9) will no longer be used as a polling location.
By: Mary Genson | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published August 4, 2025
BIRMINGHAM — Birmingham has consolidated its nine election precincts into five to improve efficiency and lower costs. This change means most voters will have different precinct numbers and polling places.
The decision to consolidate the city’s precincts was unanimously approved by the Birmingham City Commission June 9.
Recently, Michigan Election Law 168.658 was passed, which allows there to be more voters per precinct. Previously, there could be 2,999 registered voters per precinct. Now, there can be 4,999 registered votes per precinct.
Another factor that played into the consolidation of the precincts was the changes in voter turnout recorded from past election cycles.
“The majority of Birmingham voters now vote by mail or during the nine-day early voting period, which has greatly reduced the number of people at polling places on Election Day,” City Clerk Alexandria Bingham said via email.
Fewer than 35% of voters cast their votes on Election Day in Birmingham’s November 2024 election — a decrease from the 48% of in-person voters on Election Day in November 2022, which was before early in-person voting was offered. In November 2018, the percentage of in-person voters was at 66% on Election Day. However, this was also before no-excuse-necessary absentee ballots were available to voters.
“Recent election data indicates a significant and sustained shift away from traditional in-person voting on Election Day, with voters increasingly utilizing absentee and early in-person voting options,” Bingham said via email.
Changes to expect
As of the Nov. 5, 2025, election, three polling locations will no longer be in-use: the Birmingham Ice Arena (former precinct 9), Holy Name (former precinct 1) and First Presbyterian Church (former precinct 4).
“In-person voters on Election Day should experience no difference in wait times at polling places, since far fewer people now vote at the polls on Election Day,” Bingham said over email.
Since there will be fewer precincts, voting operations require less equipment, staffing and maintenance.
This is especially cost-efficient because in 2027-2028, all Michigan counties must select new voting equipment. By consolidating precincts, the city is expected to save $160,000 on purchasing new voting equipment required by the state. Following the initial purchase, there is an expected $3,400 per year on annual maintenance costs.
As far as staffing, Bingham said via email, “The Department of Public Services provides a crew to assist in the setup and breakdown of polling locations for election day. We anticipate a 30% reduction in the hours needed to set up and break down polling locations with the reduced five precinct format. Additionally, we will need fewer election inspectors on Election Day depending on anticipated voter turnout.”
At a City Commission meeting June 9, Mayor Therese Longe clarified how this change affects state House of Representative districts.
“Those don’t change at all. If you go to a precinct that now includes what used to be more than one old precinct, you will get the appropriate ballot based on your street address, and you will still vote for the people until the census redraws those lines. Our Senate boundary has already changed, and so all of Birmingham will be in one Senate district for the next election. So there seem to be no downsides to this,” Bingham said via email.
Voter registration cards have been sent out to residents. For more information, to see the new map and to browse frequently asked questions, visit bhamgov.org/votinglocations.