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Live · Election Night 2026
Last updated: 10:50 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. All results are unofficial and partial. This page refreshes through the night as county clerks post numbers. Nothing here is called until a source calls it, and the source is named when that happens.
The Short Version

In Berrien County, Jennifer Fields leads Myrene Koch 63 to 36 percent with 41 of 55 precincts reporting. In Eastpointe, the first 550 votes counted have Judge Galen ahead of Richard Goodman, but Macomb still shows no precincts fully reported, so this is an early slice. Allegan County has not posted results. Statewide, Cavanagh and Hood hold the top two Supreme Court spots with about 18 percent of the expected vote in, Proposal 1 is trailing badly, and Proposal 2 is winning big. Nothing has been called.

★ Clutch Pick. A pink star marks the candidate Clutch Justice endorsed in that race.

I have spent most of this year inside these races: reading the court files, pulling campaign finance records, and listening to the attorneys and court users who live with these judges every day. Tonight is the part where voters get the last word. I will be here until the numbers settle.

Live Updates

10:50 p.m.

Macomb County posts the first votes in the 38th District: Galen 342, Goodman 195, write-ins 13, with 0 percent of precincts fully reporting. That is a small first batch, likely early and absentee ballots, and most of Eastpointe is still out. Fields extends her count in Berrien to 4,694 votes with 41 of 55 precincts in. Allegan County still has no results posted.

10:05 p.m.

Berrien County posts its first numbers in the 5th District Court race: Fields 1,149 (65.5%), Koch 583 (33.2%), with 19 of 55 precincts in. Supreme Court totals now show all six candidates, with White at 4.5% and Howe at 3.7% statewide. Macomb still shows 0 percent of precincts reporting in the 38th District, and Allegan County has not posted any results.

9:05 p.m.

Added the two statewide ballot proposals. As of 9:00 p.m., Decision Desk HQ shows No ahead on Proposal 1, the constitutional convention question, and Yes ahead on Proposal 2, the utility and contractor campaign finance measure. Neither is called.

8:55 p.m.

Statewide, Decision Desk HQ shows roughly 8 percent of the expected Supreme Court vote in, with Cavanagh leading. The 38th, 5th, and 57th District Court races all show zero precincts reporting. Decision Desk HQ flags local judicial races as ones that may not report on election night.

8:00 p.m.

Polls close in most of Michigan. The western Upper Peninsula closes at 9:00 p.m. ET.

38th District Court, Eastpointe

38th District Court · Incumbent Position
Macomb County · One 6-year term · Vote for 1 · 8 precincts
Counting · first votes in
CandidateVotesShare
★Richard W. GoodmanClutch Pick19535.5%
Kathleen G. Galen Incumbent34262.2%
Write-in132.4%
This is the race Clutch Justice covered most closely in 2026: a sitting judge’s brother sued twice to knock her challenger off the ballot over residency, and both courts dismissed without reaching the merits. A Court of Claims order left a post-election quo warranto path open, so this one may not be fully over even after the count.
And if Judge Galen keeps her seat tonight, a win at the ballot box does not close the file. The questions Clutch Justice has documented all year still need answers: where her magistrate actually lives, how money is being spent inside the 38th District Court, and a jail sentence the Court of Appeals vacated after she locked up a pregnant woman over fines and costs without a supported finding that she could pay. That last one lands in a court that already had to be ordered to stop pay-or-stay jailing back in 2016. Votes decide who sits on the bench. They do not erase the record.
550 votes counted, 0% of precincts fully reporting, as of 10:45 p.m. ET · Source: Macomb County Clerk election night reporting

5th District Court, Berrien County

5th District Court · Non-Incumbent Position
Berrien County · One 6-year term · Vote for 1 · 55 precincts
Counting · 41 of 55 precincts
CandidateVotesShare
★Jennifer E. FieldsClutch Pick4,69463.1%
Myrene Kay Koch2,66035.8%
Write-in801.1%
An open seat between Fields, a trial attorney with the Berrien County Public Defender’s Office, and Koch, a Berrien assistant prosecutor and former Allegan County Prosecutor. Clutch Justice’s full record on Koch, including the Michigan Supreme Court’s ex parte findings in People v. Loew, is in From Allegan to the Ballot.
41 of 55 precincts reporting as of about 10:45 p.m. ET · Source: Berrien County Clerk unofficial results

57th District Court, Allegan County

57th District Court · Incumbent Position, Partial Term
Allegan County · Partial term ending January 1, 2031 · Vote for 1
Awaiting results
CandidateVotesShare
★Christopher E. Burnett IncumbentClutch Pick00.0%
Tom Siver00.0%
Governor Whitmer appointed Burnett to the bench in July 2025 to finish Judge William Baillargeon’s term after twenty years in Allegan County defense practice. Clutch Justice’s reporting on his challenger is collected in The Pattern Around Tom Siver and the Lake 16 report.
Allegan County had not posted results as of 10:45 p.m. ET · Source: Decision Desk HQ

Michigan Supreme Court

Justice of the Supreme Court
Statewide · Two 8-year terms · Vote for 2 · Top two win
Counting · ~18% of expected vote
CandidateVotesShare
Megan Cavanagh Incumbent587,14434.5%
Noah Hood Incumbent512,03930.1%
Michael Warren239,87214.1%
Casandra Morse-Bills215,28812.6%
★Jody WhiteClutch Pick81,4374.8%
★Thomas W. HoweClutch Pick67,3134.0%
1,703,093 total votes as of 10:46 p.m. ET · Source: Decision Desk HQ
A Note on This Race

Confession: the local races kept me so busy that I somehow forgot to make Supreme Court endorsements at all. What I did do was cheer on two friends of Clutch, Jody White and Thomas W. Howe, and back them in their social media campaigns, and I am still rooting for them tonight. Both ran from outside the usual path to the bench, and both put the court accountability problems this site covers every week, from probate to judicial discipline, at the center of a statewide race. That takes nerve, and it moved a conversation that needed moving.

Statewide Ballot Proposals

Proposal 26-1 · Constitutional Convention
Statewide · Question required by the Michigan Constitution every 16 years
Counting · ~11% of expected vote
ChoiceVotesShare
No825,05075.1%
Yes273,25424.9%
A yes vote would convene elected delegates in 2027 to draft a general revision of the Michigan Constitution, which would then go back to voters for approval. A no vote leaves the current constitution in place without a convention.
Back in January, I laid out what I would push for if voters called a convention and I ran as a delegate: judicial fitness reviews, firm discipline timelines, mandatory digital recording of every court proceeding, documented charging decisions, and real oversight with the power to audit courts and prosecutors. That piece is What I Would Do as a Michigan Constitutional Convention Delegate, and whatever happens tonight, every one of those reforms is still worth fighting for.
1,098,304 total votes, ~23% of expected vote, as of 10:45 p.m. ET · Source: Decision Desk HQ
Proposal 26-2 · Campaign Contributions and Political Communications
Statewide · Citizen-initiated law
Counting · ~11% of expected vote
ChoiceVotesShare
Yes920,72881.9%
No203,69518.1%
A yes vote would bar campaign contributions from regulated electric and gas utilities and from government contractors holding more than $250,000 a year in government contracts, along with people and organizations closely tied to them, to candidates for offices that affect those entities. It would also extend donor disclosure rules to communications that clearly identify a candidate or ballot question, and expressly apply paid-for-by disclosure to internet political communications. A no vote means the law is not adopted.
1,124,423 total votes, ~24% of expected vote, as of 10:46 p.m. ET · Source: Decision Desk HQ
QuickFAQs

Which judicial candidates did Clutch Justice endorse in 2026?

Richard W. Goodman for the 38th District Court in Eastpointe, Jennifer E. Fields for the 5th District Court open seat in Berrien County, and Judge Christopher E. Burnett for the 57th District Court partial term in Allegan County. In the Supreme Court race, there was no formal endorsement, but friends of Clutch Jody White and Thomas W. Howe carry the Clutch Pick star.

How many Michigan Supreme Court seats were on the ballot?

Two, each for an eight-year term. Six candidates appeared on the nonpartisan ballot, and the two with the most votes win.

Why are local judicial results slow tonight?

County clerks post district court numbers as precincts and absentee counting boards finish. Decision Desk HQ notes these local races may not report on election night at all, so some of these tables could stay empty until morning.

Are these results official?

No. Every number here is unofficial until county boards of canvassers certify their results, and the Board of State Canvassers certifies the Supreme Court race.

Sources

ResultsDecision Desk HQ, 2026 Michigan State Supreme Court results

ResultsDecision Desk HQ, 38th District Court; 5th District Court; 57th District Court

ResultsDecision Desk HQ, Proposal 2026-1; Proposal 2026-2

ClutchClutch Justice, What I Would Do as a Michigan Constitutional Convention Delegate (January 23, 2026)

ReportingWDIV ClickOnDetroit, Here are the proposals on Michigan’s November 2026 ballot

OfficialMacomb County Clerk, November 3, 2026 unofficial election results

OfficialBerrien County Clerk, November 3, 2026 State General Election results

OfficialOffice of the Governor, appointment of Christopher Burnett to the 57th District Court (July 21, 2025)

ReportingMichigan Public, Meet the Michigan Supreme Court candidates: Thomas W. Howe

Cite This Article

Bluebook: Rita Williams, Election Night 2026: Michigan Judicial Race Results, Live, Clutch Justice (Nov. 3, 2026), https://clutchjustice.com/2026/11/03/michigan-judicial-election-results-2026/.

APA 7: Williams, R. (2026, November 3). Election night 2026: Michigan judicial race results, live. Clutch Justice. https://clutchjustice.com/2026/11/03/michigan-judicial-election-results-2026/

MLA 9: Williams, Rita. “Election Night 2026: Michigan Judicial Race Results, Live.” Clutch Justice, 3 Nov. 2026, clutchjustice.com/2026/11/03/michigan-judicial-election-results-2026/.

Chicago: Williams, Rita. “Election Night 2026: Michigan Judicial Race Results, Live.” Clutch Justice, November 3, 2026. https://clutchjustice.com/2026/11/03/michigan-judicial-election-results-2026/.

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