About 18% of Monroe County voters, more than 25,000 citizens, turned in their ballots early before Election Day on Nov. 5, according to Monroe County Clerk Annamarie Osment.
From Saturday, Oct. 26 to Sunday, Nov. 3, citizens had the opportunity to vote early.
Osment said the voter turnout is good.
“That’s a good turnout compared to the August primary,” Osment said. “We had .5% of registered voters vote in early voting and this time we had 18%.”
According to the website Michigan.gov, in November 2022, Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment allowing voters the right to vote early and in person at early voting sites before statewide and federal elections.
The clerk’s office sent out approximately 34,000 absentee voting ballots and received 32,746 back, or a total of 96%. Anyone voting absentee had until 8 p.m. on election night to either turn in their ballot to their voting precinct or drop it into a ballot box.
Polls were open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m., however, Osment said she could not compare this year’s election to the 2020 presidential election because this is the first year early voting has been available.
“Until we have the total votes, we’re not going to know if this was a better turn out or not,” Osment said. “We won’t have those results until well into the night.”
Results will be posted on the Monroe County Clerk’s website.
