 Due to their influence, in February 1858, the State Legislature passed an act establishing Mackinaw City as the county seat.The Emmet County Board of Supervisors protested that the county seat had already been established at Little Traverse, and in 1861 the act was repealed as unconstitutional.In a contested election in 1867, residents voted to move the county seat to Charlevoix, which was upheld by a Circuit Court decision in 1868.