“West Michigan is, the candidates will tell you, a vast, layered space filled with the nuances of people’s lives that don’t always make their way onto television and computer screens: a land of religious Democrats who grew up in conservative households, of Republicans who are quick to condemn their party’s stance on climate change, of people who have, at least in the past, split their tickets.”

The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did not possess the legal authority under two laws to extend states of emergency and issue executive orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer said after 21 days, a number of health and safety protocols she has mandated will continue under “alternative sources of authority that were not at issue” in Friday’s ruling.

The case brought by Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, who said Friday she isn’t planning to appeal. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said Friday there was “affidavit evidence that many voters were in fact deprived of having their absent voter ballot tallied in the August primary.”