MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The election season has come to a close, with Republicans gaining the majority in the U.S. Senate and House. But how did the national results compare to those in Meridian Township?

As a county, Ingham voted resoundingly Democrat, and was one of only thirteen counties in the state to have a majority vote for Democrat Mark Schauer. Meridian Township used to be known as a Republican community, but has since shifted dramatically with all but five of the 20 precincts in Meridian Township voting for the democratic candidate for governor. On Election Day, only 54% of registered voters made it out to the polls, which Township Clerk Brett Dreyfus thinks is just too low.

“In my opinion, it’s an abysmally low number," says Dreyfus. "It’s very unfortunate that in non-presidential years we have just a little more than half of all registered voters coming out to vote.”

Those are normal numbers for a non-presidential election, although what concerns Clerk Dreyfus the most is the lack of voters under the age of thirty showing up to the polls, with only 12 percent of voters in this demographic making an effort to cast their ballot.

The Clerk hopes that with new initiatives being launched in both high schools and universities, young voters will realize the importance of being involved in the democratic process.