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Early voting underway in Michigan for August 2026 primary election

By CNN

MI: EARLY VOTING BEGINS FOR 2026 PRIMARY ELECTION

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    MICHIGAN (WWJ) — Early voting for the August 2026 primary election in Michigan started on Saturday.

The option for early voting has been available for state residents since the 2024 presidential primary. The Detroit Department of Elections on Saturday hosted a Get Out to Vote event, where voters said they loved being able to take advantage of short lines and cast their vote.

“We all come out here and support and make sure everybody’s voice is heard because that’s basically what voting is all about,” London Maiden, a voter, said.

“It’s important that your children see you doing the right thing,” Janice Winfrey, city clerk for the City of Detroit, said. “It’s important that it’s a learning opportunity for them so they can know what voting is.”

“It’s really important to have a vote because you want to be able to voice your opinion on what matters in your community,” Jordan Briggs, a voter, said.

Saturday marked the first of nine days of early voting throughout Michigan. During the early voting season, registered voters can check in during designated days and hours with an election clerk, complete a paper ballot and insert their ballot into a tabulator. Voters said they wish the state had early voting years ago. They said they feel empowered.

“People may not feel like it, but when you have a chance to be able to voice what you think is right, I feel like you should go out and take that chance every time,” Briggs said.

Voters can find the location and hours of operation of their early voting site on the state website. Some sites have different hours than others.

Voters can instead choose to vote on Election Day, Aug. 4, at their assigned polling locations or with an absentee ballot.

Winfrey is urging people to take advantage of early voting.

“Make a plan and vote because it is oh so important, in particular in this election,” she said.

Early voting goes through Aug. 2, with some jurisdictions extending to Aug. 3.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Colombia limits foreign rescue teams as earthquake survival window narrows

By CNN
(CNN) — Colombia has begun receiving international aid and rescuers after initially refusing some offers in the crucial hours following Monday’s devastating earthquake.The delay is considered the first controversy of the country’s new government, led by conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on Friday.News of the holdup comes as the clock nears the end of the critical 72-hour window for rescuing survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings, after which rescuers warn that the possibility of finding anyone alive drops dramatically.Leaders across the Americas had offered support right after the 7.4 magnitude quake struck this week – just as they had done with Venezuela when it was hit by two powerful tremors in June. The difference is that Venezuela immediately received dozens of international rescue groups without question, while Colombia either turned some of them down or limited how they would help.Political scientist Sandra Borda argued that the difficulties in aid management are related to the tense political transition between the current and previous administrations, which lacked a formal handover. Notably, it was only on Wednesday that David Tamayo Roldán was appointed director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, the agency responsible for Colombia’s disaster preparedness and response.“Without a transition and with that kind of personnel change, it was perfectly normal for these short circuits to occur,” said Borda, a professor at Universidad de los Andes.The outlook on Tuesday was uncertain as multiple countries and organizations, including the UN, said they had not received a request for aid from Colombian authorities.“If that happens, the United Nations system and humanitarian actors are prepared to provide all the support we can,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.Mexico, which had prepared tons of supplies and a contingent of 255 military personnel, also it had not received a request from Colombia and that the deployment depended on it.Meanwhile, Chinese ambassador to Colombia Zhu Jingyang “urgently” asked Colombia to establish an official channel to coordinate international assistance, saying, “We hope the Colombian Government will immediately announce the name of the official and their contact to coordinate international assistance for the earthquake victims.”As the hours passed, coordination finally began.Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced Tuesday afternoon that he was sending humanitarian aid to Colombia but noted that de la Espriella’s government requested aid “only in the form of supplies” for those affected.“We have been informed that their rescue teams, medical personnel, and other emergency bodies are deployed and attending to the situation, so at this time, they do not require personnel support,” he said.However, Peru confirmed Wednesday that it will dispatch volunteers to support search and rescue efforts.The Colombian Foreign Ministry later said it was preparing a list of “specific needs” to request international aid and that it had asked the United Nations Development Programme to provide support.The new head of disaster management also said Wednesday that the government has requested rescue teams from only four countries – the US, El Salvador, Ecuador and Israel – because, in Colombia’s view, their rescue teams have the international and national certifications required for the job.Foreign Minister Omar Bula insisted that the country has “not excluded absolutely any country in terms of the offers that have been made to us,” adding, “We work with countries without any ideological or political consideration.”The US confirmed Wednesday that had mobilized search and rescue teams from Virginia and California to Colombia after receiving a request from its government.Borda commented that the new government showed “a deep distrust of some parts of the international community,” which she considered “difficult to understand.”She added that there was “no clarity about the procedure that was to be followed” regarding the arrival of rescuers, saying, “I think this happened to us at a very difficult time. It is truly a regrettable situation.”She also said that the subsequent acceptance of the arrival of experts undermined the argument that they were not needed.“There was a perception from the beginning that the rescue teams would be sufficient, although a technical assessment was never made public to confirm that they would indeed be enough to deal with all the damage and destruction caused by the earthquake,” she said.In any case, it is also unclear where international personnel are needed. The emergency chief of the fire department in Cali, one of the most affected cities, indicated that volunteers should not approach collapsed sites “because there are already enough specialized personnel to carry out the rescue work without complications.”The Topos Tlatelolco Rescue Brigade, a Mexican group with extensive experience responding to natural disasters, said Wednesday that Colombian authorities “will not allow the entry of external rescue groups” because the work is being handled by national rescuers.Meanwhile, in Pereira, another severely affected city, the foreign ministry celebrated the arrival of 19.5 tons of aid from Mexico.“Additional flights are expected in the coming days. Colombia is not alone! The international community is with us,” the ministry said on X.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that her government had finally coordinated with its Colombian counterparts, who “requested specific items” and that the flight also included “members of the Mexican Army to assist in the efforts.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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