As election season draws to a close, Michigan voters are looking forward to more than finding out the results. Nov. 7 will also bring much-needed relief from the onslaught of political advertisements that have dominated local airwaves.
But while people have come to expect negative ads from the presidential campaigns, Michiganders (whether television, Hulu or YouTube viewers) are seeing plenty of in-state claims that need some serious fact-checking. With six hotly contested proposals on the 2012 ballot and myriad other key races, special interest groups have spent millions on ad buys for the election.
Overall campaign spending in Michigan has climbed to $175 million this year. Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun's group The People Should Decide spent a record-breaking $31 million on Proposal 6 alone.
Races for local positions, the state House and the Supreme Court aren't exempt from the ad blitz. The cast of "West Wing" even got together to make a supportive ad for Bridget McCormack, Michigan Supreme Court candidate and the sister of one of the show's stars.
With so many advertisements floating around, it can be difficult to parse the facts from the fiction. Luckily, the non-partisan, nonprofit Michigan Truth Squad analyzes political advertisements and calls foul on the misleading claims and outright lies. Michigan Truth squad is a project of the Center for Michigan.
Head to the Michigan Truth Squad website to see all of the TV, radio, print and online political claims that don't pass muster, and below, check out some of the worst offenders.
Follow our Election Day liveblog throughout the day for poll data, photos, links, interviews, results and more. Have problems (or funny incidents) at the polls? Email us or tweet your anecdotes and photos to @HuffPostDetroit.
For all of HuffPost Detroit's coverage of Michigan politics and election news, see the Detroit politics page.
