Absentee Balloting Up This Year

The Michigan Primary is coming up soon and a lot of people across Michigan are taking advantage of voting early using an absentee ballot. An absentee ballot is now easier to get due to a new rule allowing anyone to get an absentee ballot. If you wanted an absentee ballot back in 2016, you needed a reason like you were going to be out of town or too old to get to a voting booth, but now more are taking advantage of getting their vote in.

Absentee ballots are a great tool for people to still make their voice heard, especially if you work long hours or have a family and can't make it to the voting booth. According to MLive, more people then ever have been voting through the absentee ballot. In Lansing in 2016 the amount of absentee ballots was a little over 4,300 but in 2020 there are already 10,000 plus.

Requests to have an absent voter ballot mailed to you must be received by your clerk no later than 5 p.m. the Friday before the election. After receiving your absent voter ballot, you have until 8 p.m. on Election Day to complete the ballot and return it to the clerk's office, and your ballot must be signed to be counted. If you are interested in getting an absentee ballot you can get information about it here.