City Clerk Janice Winfrey responds to voting access, turnout criticisms ahead of primary
Voters in Detroit face a defining choice in the August 5 mayoral primary election. But right now, fewer than 10% of registered voters have participated. Most of those ballots have been mailed in. In‑person early voting, which ended August 4, was minimal. The primary is Tuesday, August 5. The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November.
Voter accessibility has also been a question. During the 2021 election, disability advocates filed an ADA complaint saying key voting information, like where and how to vote, was inaccessible online for users of screen readers, affecting thousands of Detroiters. And, some polling locations across metro Detroit remain inaccessible to voters with disabilities.
Detroit’s top election official, City Clerk Janice Winfrey, joined Robyn Vincent to discuss.
The Metro has spoken with all of the candidates running for mayor. You can find those conversations in the podcast feed, or at WDET.org/voterguide2025.
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Citizen Vox: What voters want from Detroit's next mayor
What do Detroit voters want out of city's next mayor? This summer, the WDET News team has been hitting the streets for a new project, Citizen Vox, to help us get a clearer picture of what Detroiters want out of the next mayor.
Ahead of Tuesday's primary, WDET news director Jerome Vaughn joined the Metro to tell us more about what WDET reporters have been hearing from residents.
Detroit's mayoral primary is Tuesday, August 5, 2025. The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November.
Follow WDET election coverage at WDET.org/voterguide2025
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Sounds Like Detroit Artist Samuel Nalangira
Being an artist can mean many things . There are many different art forms and you can specialize in one or be an artist with many different skills up your sleeve . We call them multi-hyphenates, multi-disciplinaries, a jack of all trades, a renaissance man.
Samuel Nalangira is an artist who has honed his artistic craft and expresses it through whatever form he chooses. Samuel is a singer, a musician, a dancer and choreographer from Uganda. He happens to be one of the four musicians selected for the Sounds Like Detroit showcase in just a couple of weeks. WDET is hosting a showcase for their Detroit version of NPR’s Tiny Desk.
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Marcus Elliot fills Detroit parks with music
All over, access to the arts is not equally distributed. Whether it's painting, sewing or in this case, music. Art hasn't been something many Detroit kids can easily engage with. That’s partly because it takes money to make art available.
To help make art more accessible, The Joyce Foundation awarded a grant last year in collaboration with the Detroit Parks Coalition. With this support, Detroit-based saxophonist, composer, and educator Marcus Elliot created a series to bring music to the parks.
Sounds from the Park is more than music in the park. Each composition is inspired by the neighborhood’s community. As you continue to learn more about the uniqueness of Detroit and its history, it becomes easier to understand that it needs to be preserved in every form, including sonically.
This year, Sounds from the Park took the tunes to Clark Park and will make its way to Eliza Howell Park on August 2nd. Helping enrich the Sidewalk Detroit festival's 10-year celebration.
Today on The Metro to tell us more about his new initiative, we had Marcus Elliot. He is an instructor of jazz saxophone at Wayne State University and the director of the Creative Arts Orchestra at the University of Michigan.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Detroiters are asking for change. These races decide if they’ll get it
For months, Detroiters and suburbanites have had their eyes on the mayoral race. That’s for good reason: Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor, it’s the most competitive it’s been in years. It’s also very likely that the city will have a Black mayor once again.
But there are other races in Detroit that deserve attention. 22 candidates are competing in the Detroit City Council primary races. Those seats matter. The people who win those positions are the city’s legislators. They decide what ordinances get passed, what norms are established, and which ones aren’t. Bridge Detroit has been hosting town halls in every Detroit district leading up to Tuesday’s primary election. Two people have been leading those town halls.
Bryce Huffman is the Engagement Editor for Bridge Detroit. He, along with Malachi Barrett, a reporter for Bridge Detroit, are on The Metro this morning to give us more.
"The Metro" covers local and regional news and current affairs, arts and cultural events and topics, with a commitment to airing perspectives and uncovering stories underreported by mainstream media in Detroit.
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