Michigan residents can now vote nine days before an election.
Early voting became a constitutional law in 2022.
Annamarie Osment, county clerk, said the proposal came into effect in November of 2022 and affects the entire state of Michigan.
Early voting for the Nov. 5 general election begins Saturday, Oct. 26, and ends Sunday, Nov. 3.
The now constitutional law requires prepaid postage for absentee ballots and applications, requires local clerks to install one absentee ballot drop box for every 15,000 registered voters, requires at least nine days of early voting in state and federal elections, and allows a voter to request an absentee ballot for future elections, according to the Monroe County website.
“It was a constitutional change so you can’t just take it out by legislative changes,” Osment said.
Osment said the early voting process is only for certain elections in Michigan.
“The early voting is only required for state and federal elections, so we do not need to hold that for school elections or special elections,” Osment said.
The Feb. 27 presidential primary was the first time early voting took place in Michigan and voter turnout only slightly increased.
“We would like to see that number rise,” Osment said. “I think if people understand that they can get their absentee ballot and vote in the privacy of their own home and then come in and put the ballot into the tabulator, I think we would see that number rise.”
Absentee voters can bring their completed ballot to their early voting site to be tabulated, or they can hand-deliver the ballot to their local clerk’s office or secure ballot drop box. Absentee ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, according to the secretary of state’s website.
Osment said the county clerk’s office gets a lot of questions, but they are mostly about if the early voting automatically means someone can vote twice.
Osment said the office has a qualified voter file to ensure someone does not vote more than once.
Residents can go to their local township office to vote nine days before the election.
For more information, visit https://www.co.monroe.mi.us/409/Elections.
For additional information about early voting, visit michigan.gov/vote or view this presentation https://www.co.monroe.mi.us/845/EARLY-VOTING-INFORMATION.
