What to know about voting absentee in Michigan

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David Nicholas: Absentee ballots started going out to Michigan voters yesterday. After several new voting laws took effect in 2024, many still might not be up to date on some of the rule changes. To clear up any confusion, WCMU's Tina Sawyer spoke with Midland’s Election Director Ann Manary. She started the conversation by explaining the differences between the voting methods.

Ann Manary: So yeah, we do have quite a few changes to Michigan law since 2022, that really most of them went into effect in 2024. Those were the early voting and also the permanent AV process. So literally now, if you are a resident of Michigan, you can reach out to your local clerk either by contacting them directly or going online, and you can actually go on there and you can request to receive an absentee ballot for every single election that you are eligible to vote in.

So, you don't actually have to fill out an application to vote anymore. Simply fill out one application, let your clerk know you want to be on the permanent ballot list, and you get a ballot for every election delivered to your home address. So that is one of the changes that happen from proposal 22-2.

Tina Sawyer: So, for those who prefer voting from home, let's say with the absentee ballot, what is the deadline for the offices to receive those ballots for them to count?

AM: Well, the ballot actually has to be received by the local clerk, and that could either be your city or township clerk, by 8:00 PM on election night. So, it either has to be in the drop boxes by 8 p.m. or delivered directly to the clerk by 8 p.m..

TS: I see.

AM: Now, the one caveat we do have in Michigan as well is that if you were to receive an absentee ballot in the mail, you could take that to your local precinct on election day or to early voting and you could actually vote that ballot right there that day. We have that option as well.

TS: Okay.

AM: So, if you were to get a ballot in the mail and you decided that you were close to an early voting site and you wanted to put your ballot through the tabulator yourself, you certainly could go into one of those early voting sites with your absentee ballot completely filled out and you could vote that ballot right there on that day.

TS: We hear postal delays, right? So, if it's getting close to election day and someone still has the absentee ballot at their house, what should they do instead of just putting it in the mailbox? Is it that same scenario as you were mentioning there? They can just take it down?

AM: Yep, highly recommend that if you get an absentee ballot in the mail that you utilize the clerk drop boxes. So, every city and township have drop boxes available for voters that are open and available and also video monitored 24/7. So, up until 8 p.m. on election night, you can take your absentee ballot to any of those drop boxes and drop it right in person. You can also go to your local clerk's office and take that ballot in if you wish, or you can put it into the postal service.

Now, we've been hearing a lot of things about absentee ballots in the mail, and to be honest with you, I know that there's been a ruling that there will be no changes to absentee balloting at this time, but we all know that things change. So, I'm highly recommending people utilize those drop boxes and early voting just to make sure that your ballot gets where it should be for your vote to count on Election Day.

Say you got an absentee ballot and you sent it in and perhaps the individual that you voted for dropped out of the race, you know, a week or two before the election. That has happened; that happened in August. So, people have an absentee ballot they've already sent in but their candidate no longer is a viable candidate. Depending upon when you discover that, you should contact your clerk immediately to see whether or not you can get a new absentee ballot. As long as that ballot has not been processed through the AV counting board, you would be able to get another ballot.

So that's why it's really important to keep in contact with your local clerk if you have questions about that, because they're the ones that are going to be able to tell you at what stage your ballot is.

DN: That was Midland’s Election Director Ann Manary speaking with WCMU's Tina Sawyer on absentee voting.