Michigan Election Results Expected on Friday After Election Day

We are almost to the finish line, many people have voted, or are going to vote via absentee ballot, but many are still going to the polls to vote. We are just under two weeks away from the official election. States all over the US are ramping up to process the large amount of mail in votes this year due to Covid-19. The State of Michigan says results from this election will be longer than usual this year, but they now have an idea of how it is going to play out. Jonathan Brater, Director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections said the tallying of votes could last until the Friday after the election. In a hearing of the State Senate Elections committee, Brater said the reasons for the delay, which includes counting record high vote estimates, which could pass 5 million, and a lack of tabulating equipment.

MLive reports:

Another part of the workload, as well as another factor in a delayed count, has been difficulty securing “high-speed tabulators” to quickly count ballots, he said. The issue has not been funding, as around $3 million has been used from CARES Act, state, and federal funding, Brater said. The issue has been a mad dash to beat competing states for the supply of tabulators from vendors, he said.

State Senator Ruth Johnson, who is a former Secretary of State, questioned the logic of absentee ballots being mass mailed. Jocelyn Benson Michigan Secretary of State assured Johnson the reason is to allow voters to cast ballots safely from their homes as we navigate ongoing Covid-19 outbreaks. Johnson and former Secretary of state Terri Lynn Land sued Benson due to her earlier plans to allow the counting of absentee ballots to be counted to two weeks after election day if they were post marked by November 3rd.

So, it looks like Michigan has a working plan to get through this once in a life time election during a pandemic, and successfully count all votes and report the winners. The Election is one week from next Tuesday. No matter your method of voting this year, be heard, vote November 3rd.