Baldwin Township, Michigan
Meeting dates, phone numbers for the people who represent us, and the occasional explainer when something on the ballot actually affects life here. Nothing fancy. I just got tired of hunting this stuff down in five different places, so I put it in one.
About
I live here. This fall I started paying closer attention to local politics, and I kept missing things: a meeting I meant to go to, a proposal I only half understood by the time I voted on it. So this page is mostly a notebook I’m keeping in public.
Full disclosure, since it matters: I’m a Democrat, and I’ve started getting involved with the county party. You’ll see their meetings listed here too, labeled for what they are. The township stuff comes first either way. If there’s a meeting at the hall, it goes on this page whether I agree with the people running it or not.
That’s about it. No organization behind this, no mailing list, nothing to sign up for. If you spot a mistake, say so at the next meeting and I’ll fix it.
Coming Up
Most of what affects day to day life here gets decided at the township hall, usually in front of a lot of empty chairs. Here’s what’s on the calendar.
The regular monthly board meeting, at Baldwin Township Hall, 1119 Monument Rd in Tawas City. Anyone can sit in, and there’s a public comment part if you have something to say. This is where township business actually gets decided.
The county party’s regular monthly meeting, third Tuesday of the month. Usually at headquarters, 224 Newman St in East Tawas, with a Zoom option. Worth confirming the location with the chair or HQ before you head out, since it can change.
The board meets at Baldwin Township Hall, 1119 Monument Rd. Agendas and minutes are posted at baldwintownship.org, and the hall answers at 989-362-3742, Tue to Thu, 9 AM to 4 PM. Honestly, going once teaches you more about how this place runs than months of national news.
The newsletter part
Common Ground is just what I’m calling the writing on this page. Short pieces about votes and bills that land here in Baldwin Township, written the way I’d explain them to a neighbor. Here’s the first one.
Common Ground · Ballot Proposal 26-2 · Nov 2026
Before the people who set your electric rate could ask Lansing for anything, they were some of the biggest campaign donors in the state. Proposal 2 ended that arrangement.
Every month, your electric and gas bill arrives set by rates that a state body, the Michigan Public Service Commission, approves. The companies involved, chiefly DTE and Consumers Energy, are regulated monopolies: you cannot switch to a competitor if you do not like the price.
For years, those same companies also wrote campaign checks to the lawmakers and officials whose decisions shape their business. Nothing about that required a smoke-filled room. It was legal, disclosed, and routine, which is exactly what Proposal 2 set out to change.
The proposal, put on the ballot by citizen petition under the name Michiganders for Money Out of Politics, bans regulated electric and gas utilities from making campaign contributions, directly or indirectly, to candidates and officeholders who affect them. It applies the same ban to companies holding more than $250,000 a year in government contracts, and to people and groups with substantial ties to either.
It also closes a disclosure gap: spending on political ads that clearly identify a candidate now follows campaign finance disclosure rules even when the ad carefully avoids saying “vote for” or “vote against.” Utilities that break the new law face fines of up to ten times the contribution.
You do not need a party label to have a stake in this. If the referee is being paid by one of the teams, the score stops meaning much, whether the call goes your way or not. Whatever you think the right electric rate is, it should be argued in the open, not sweetened by campaign money.
Proposal 2 passed on Nov 3, and because it is a statute rather than a constitutional amendment, a simple majority was all it took. The arguing over rates will continue, as it should. It will just happen with one less thumb on the scale.
Signed, a neighbor in Baldwin Township
Your Representatives
If you vote in Baldwin Township, Precinct 1, these are your districts. I put phone numbers for the township and county offices, where calling actually gets you a person. For state and federal, I listed the district and office, and there’s a link at the bottom to check your own voter record.
Township Hall, 1119 Monument Rd · Open Tue to Thu, 9 AM to 4 PM
Your commissioner is District 4. The township spans Districts 3 and 4, so check your voter card if you live near the line.
Both incumbents were reelected on Nov 3, 2026.
Federal offices that cover Baldwin Township.
Not sure who to call? Start with the township hall. If it turns out to be a county, state, or federal thing, they’ll point you the right way.
Plug In
There are only about 1,600 of us here, so one person showing up actually registers. These are the ways I’ve found to do it, smallest first.
The basics. Check your registration at the Michigan Voter Information Center. Around here it’s Baldwin Township, Precinct 1.
Township board at the hall, or a county party meeting in East Tawas. Sit in the back, leave early if you need to. You’ll still walk out knowing more than most people.
Putting up signs, dropping off literature, setting up chairs. Nobody has to give a speech. This kind of help is always short handed, in my experience so far.
Take notes at a meeting and pass them along, or write a short piece from a Baldwin Township point of view. Plenty happens here that the rest of the state never hears about.
Door knocking, porch conversations, that kind of thing, when you’re up for it. The best version I’ve seen starts with a simple question: what matters to you around here? Then you actually listen to the answer.