Three Republican county clerks are trying to bolster public trust in election results before polls close next month, in a continuation of their voter education and outreach efforts.
Voting regulations in Michigan have changed significantly since the last Presidential Election in 2020, which was the first Presidential election in which Michiganders could request absentee ballots for any reason. A constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2022, and other legislative and executive orders since have further expanded ways voters can submit their ballots.
Leading up to and at various time since losing the 2020 election, current Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump and some of political allies spread misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories seeking to sow doubt in the accuracy of elections.
Since that election, Republican Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus-Lyons said she’s prioritized talking with voters about the voting process, and the reasons the vote count should be trusted when polls close next month.
“I’ve made it my mission… to go anywhere and talk to anyone about the process,” Posthumus-Lyons said. “Because I believe that public trust is reliant on understanding. The keys to trusting the process are education, participation and transparency.”
The trio of clerks, also including Livingston County Clerk Betsy Hundlee and Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck, both Republicans, described various checks and balances in the procedure of the vote count — including how meetings to test election equipment, canvass the vote when polls close, and post-election audits are all open to the public.
Other ways voting is kept safe, fair and secure:
Checks and balances for ballot security:
Every absentee ballot submitted will have the signature of each voter checked against signatures in the database of eligible voters maintained by the state. And Roebuck says there is a robust system of checks and balances to make sure sure eligible voters only vote once, whether in the early voting period, via absentee ballot.
“We have a live database ensuring that only one vote per person is cast throughout the early voting period, as well as absentee voting,” Roebuck said.
He said in-preson voting also has robust system of checks and balances. In-person voters will be asked to provide a photo ID.
Michiganders can volunteer to be poll workers, and Roebuck said these are bipartisan teams of people who receive robust training, live in the communities they’re volunteering in, and swear an oath to uphold Michigan election laws and the U.S. Constitution:
And if there’s any concern about a signature match on absentee ballots, Hundlee says voters will be promptly contacted and offered a process to cure their ballot to have it counted.
Posthumus-Lyons says she regularly hears concerns from voters about the accuracy of the tabulating machines which count the ballots. She says the equipment can be trusted, because it’s tested by elections officials prior to the election, and those meetings are open to the public.
And in the case of any disputed results or recounts, clerks can refer to the hard-evidence of paper ballots.
Clerks and boards of canvassers in each county report the results, but they do not have power to investigate claims of election interference. The clerks said those concerns would be reported to law enforcement for investigation, and if necessary be adjudicated by the courts.
Ballot drop boxes are secure:
Every municipality in Michigan is now required to have at least one dropbox for absentee ballots — this is a change since the last Presidential election. The clerks noted these drop boxes are under 24-7 video surveillance. The ballots have to be regularly retrieved from the drop boxes, which has to be done by an election official. And there’s a paper trail of when and where the ballots are transported.
“There’s documentation so we can demonstrate chain of custody and protect the ballot all throughout the process,” Posthumus-Lyons said. “There’s a lot of things we’re doing to put belt and suspenders on the integrity of the election so we can again instill public trust among our voters.”
Getting results will take time:
Though clerks are now allowed to “pre-process” absentee ballots in order to speed up the reporting of election results after polls close, they can only begin reporting election results after polls close. Counting the votes is a time consuming process, and the clerks urged patience.
“Counting votes does take time, and we want to ensure that every valid vote is counted on election night,” Hundlee said. “It’s not a delay in the process. It’s simply the process working as it’s set out to work.”
The voter rolls are okay:
Roebuck says he also regularly hears from voters concerned about non-citizens or other people who aren’t legally eligible to vote being placed on the database of eligible voters. He says it is extremely rare for a non-citizen to somehow get listed as an eligible voter.
“The Real ID Act requires U.S. citizens to present proof of citizenship before they get a driver’s license,” Roebuck said. “If you’re a non-citizen getting a driver’s license or state I.D. in Michigan, you’re kept in a separate database that’s separate from the automatic voter registration file.”
He says federal regulations require people registering to vote by mail have to provide the last four digits of their social security number, or driver’s license or state ID number.
As for deceased people on the voter rolls, he says legislation enacted in 2023 essentially allows county clerks to be sent death records from county medical examiners for elections officials to flag their name for removal from the active voter rolls — and he says the federal social security office also alerts the Secretary of State’s office on a weekly basis to remove recently deceased voters.
“We have more tools than we’ve ever had to ensure to ensure that deceased voters come off of the voter rolls.”
Election Day is November 5. Polls close at 8pm local time. A tiny part of the western Upper Peninsula is in the Central Time Zone, which means polls there close at 8pm Central time or 9pm Eastern.
