Voters cast ballots in clerk's dining room in this Michigan township

From early and absentee voting to election day preparations, it's the final stretch for those working the polls during the midterms.

In one Oakland County township, there isn't a library, school or even a government office where people can vote; instead, it's in the township clerk's dining room.

Novi Township spans just over a tenth of a square mile and comprises just one neighborhood. For many of the 128 registered voters here, a trip to the polls means a trip to one of their neighbors.

"Because we are such a small jurisdiction, we only have one box for collection, which we are pulling up on right now," said Novi Township clerk Janeen Crittenden.

Crittenden says she doesn't need to travel far during her daily check for absentee ballots.

"And I am picking up two absentee ballots," she told us on Monday while showing us where their only absentee ballot drop box is located.

Just a quick drive down the street to the community mail center. She brings them back to Novi Township's sole polling location, her house.

"If anyone needs to register day of, and as absentee ballots come in, I'm going to be here processing," she said.

She'll do that from the room in her home that is sometimes a music practice room, sometimes her husband's office, but is always her workspace during election season.

On election day, voters check in at the spot where guests typically take off their shoes. Artwork is replaced with mandatory information on voters' rights and ballot proposal language. Voters fill out and submit their ballots in the same room that will be hosting Thanksgiving in a few weeks.

"As a hospitality person, every voter is that person that I'm hosting," Crittenden said.

As casual as this precinct feels, Crittenden says she treats election safety, security and integrity as seriously as those who oversee jurisdictions 100 times larger.

"We have the same protocol on computer systems. We have to have election inspectors. It matters that I run a free and fair election every time and I get as many people out to vote as I can," she said.

She says that's not too hard when everyone lives within a tenth of a mile from where they vote. Her precinct recorded the highest turnout of any precinct in Oakland County during the 2024 presidential election, at 94%, according to the county's official results.