Power outage at Detroit voting locations doesn't stop voters

DETROIT (WJBK/AP) - Utility crews in the Detroit area are working to restore electrical service to several polling places without power due to severe thunderstorms.

In a video on DTE Energy's Twitter feed , executive director Ryan Stowe says about 14 polling places were without power following Monday evening's storms and as of Tuesday morning crews had restored power to at least five. In all, he says about 40,000 customers lost power and about half were restored Tuesday morning.

Stowe says the utility is "doing everything we can" to get power back quickly to voting locations for the primary election.

Storms knocked down trees and power lines, with the heaviest damage reported on the east side of Detroit. In suburban Grosse Pointe Park, WWJ-AM reports a polling place at Pierce Middle School used generator power Tuesday morning.
 
"Somehow during the day, a couple of our precincts just went out. They started up, running real good. Then some of them just went out," said Detroit city clerk Janice Winfrey.

DTE provided generators to keep polling locations opened.