Clerk Marie Wicks to Step Down After Historic Election
When Marie Wicks returned to the city ranks to serve as interim clerk in early 2023, she was greeted by a letter blasting the city for long lines of student voters at the November 2022 midterm election.
The letter came from voter rights groups. Wicks wasn’t the clerk during the election, officially she was “retired,” despite spending 40 hours weekly on campus for four weeks leading up to the election educating students about voting early and registering.
The clerk’s office took the brunt of the blame for long lines in the 2022 midterms, but the lines weren’t caused by a lack of effort or negligence from the clerk. Students are a notoriously difficult voter population to work with. Many are inexperienced voters who don’t know where to cast their ballot. Frequent address changes can lead to students being registered at their parent’s home or a neighboring jurisdiction they’d lived in the previous school year.
Every misplaced voter requires attention from election workers. A change in state law allowing Election Day registration supercharged the problem of long lines in East Lansing, as so many students need to register or change their address, and wait until Election Day to do so. Those students are funneled to the couple of locations in the city where day-of registration is allowed.
To some, the problem may have seemed unsolvable. But not Wicks.
When Wicks returned in February 2023, she planned to stay on an interim basis for six months. But with the city slated to hold five elections in a year starting in November 2023 and capped with last month’s general election, Wicks decided to stay on board to lead East Lansing through the gauntlet.
Wicks’ most recent stint as clerk was her second, after serving as city clerk from 2011-2018, when she left to work for the state bureau of elections for 19 months before retiring.
An East Lansing High School graduate, Wicks returned with extensive knowledge of elections and the community she serves.
“I felt that I absolutely had a moral obligation [to stay on as clerk],” Wicks said.
Finding someone else to lead the city through the daunting election cycle would have been a monumental task. As Wicks pointed out, there is no college program for being a being a clerk–you learn on the job.
Wicks’ decision to lead the city through elections over the last year may have lasting impacts.
The long lines of student voters that could be expected at major elections previously were absent this November. Students were in line after midnight in 2022, but at 8 p.m. this November polls closed with just a few voters waiting in line at the Election Day Vote Center on campus.
For months leading up to the election, Wicks said the city would push early voting options to keep Election Day lines short.
A change in state law mandated early voting centers for nine days leading up to the election. East Lansing opened two Early Vote Centers, one at the Hannah Community Center that operated for nine days, and another at the WKAR studio on MSU’s campus that operated for two weeks leading up to the election.
The city pushed absentee early voting hard in other recent major elections to alleviate the load on Election Day, and the Early Vote Centers provided another opportunity to usher in voters this cycle. But the new feature needed to be properly promoted and administered.

Post-election numbers showed that more than 5,600 voters cast their ballots at the Early Vote Centers. Nearly 6,300 votes also came in via absentee ballot, leaving fewer than 5,700 votes to be cast on Election Day.
Another new feature at November’s election was the Election Day Vote Center, which was also hosted by WKAR. East Lansing was one of three municipalities in the state to host an Election Day Vote Center.
Similar to the satellite clerk’s office that was at Brody Hall in 2022, students could be registered the day of the election at the Election Day Vote Center. Unlike what was seen at Brody two years ago, wait times rarely exceeded an hour on Election Day even though more than 1,700 voters registered and cast their ballot at the site on the day of the election.
“It couldn’t have worked out better,” MSUvote Co-Chair Renee Brown said of the WKAR location. Brown credited Wicks’ experience with elections and “forward thinking” for helping the smooth Election Day.
It was Wicks’ confidence in herself that made her decide to stay for the recent elections. Now that the job is done, she is quick to credit others for the success.
Wicks thanked WKAR Station Manager Shawn Turner, other MSU partners, Deputy Clerk Amy Gordon and former Clerk Jennifer Shuster. After the 2022 election, Wicks said Shuster wrote a report that included recommendations for future major elections that was a guide.
“Everything that we’ve done, particularly with respect to this election, was in response to 2022,” Wicks said.
Now, Wicks will step aside. She leaves a blueprint on how to combat the longstanding problem of lengthy lines for student voters.
“I’m just so proud of this team,” Wicks said. “We piloted early voting last year, this year we piloted Election Day Vote Centers. I feel like we have really done everything to run the best elections that we possibly can run.”
Wicks will stay involved in elections.
Wicks will be remembered for the impact she had on East Lansing elections, but she initially joined the city ranks for a different purpose.
In early 2006, Wicks was hired to serve as assistant to the city manager under former City Manager Ted Staton. Prior to that, she had worked with the Michigan Municipal League. Wicks said Staton promoted her three separate times while he was city manager, finally to clerk in 2011.
When she was promoted to clerk, Wicks’ only election experience was as an inspector. She said she’s grateful for the influence Staton had on her career during his time with the city.
“He was an amazing mentor,” Wicks said.
Now, Wicks is providing similar guidance to East Lansing’s young employees.
“What an absolute honor it has been to get to know and work with Marie,” Deputy Clerk Amy Gordon wrote to ELi when asked to comment on Wicks’ retirement. “I met Marie in 2020 when I started working in this office, and she took me under her wing immediately.”
Gordon will serve as interim clerk when Wicks steps aside this month. The two years she spent working under Wicks have prepared her for the responsibilities she will take on.
“[Wicks] has given me every opportunity to grow professionally, pushed me out of my comfort zone, and allowed me to make mistakes while supporting me through it all,” Gordon wrote. “That is the sign of a true leader.”
Over the last 15 years, Wicks has gained a tremendous amount of respect for the people and processes that keep our elections running. She passionately pushes back against claims of widespread voter fraud, and heaps praise upon local township clerks who run elections as a part time job.
Wicks is still figuring out how she’ll use her spare time once officially retired. She looks forward to spending time on her hobbies that include knitting or learning to play the baritone ukulele.
“I want to be the Jimi Hendrix of the Ukes,” Wicks said at the end of the Dec. 10 City Council meeting, her final as clerk.
Wicks is sure she will stay active in elections. She looks forward to serving as a precinct chair, as she did seven times during her first retirement. She may also continue to give her Anatomy of Elections presentation that provides an in-depth look at how Michigan elections are run and what makes them secure.
“So much of what I do is defined by, or who I feel I am is tied up with elections,” Wicks said. “So, I have to figure out how to keep doing that kind of thing.”