Early in-person voting begins Saturday across Michigan. That means voters can show up at clerks’ offices and early voting sites to get their ballot, fill it out, and place it in a tabulator to be counted on Election Day, November 5.
The first wave of early in-person voting began last Saturday in Detroit. East Lansing and Canton Township chose to begin early in-person voting on Monday. A 2022 voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution requires local governments to offer at least nine days of early voting – and that’s what starts this Saturday statewide.
“It’s something that’s been done in many other states. It’s really popular with voters,” said Angela Benander with the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. “It’s popular with clerks because it doesn’t concentrate all the voting and all the activity onto one single day.”
Benander said spreading out the work so it is less rushed is better for election integrity.
She said clerks are expecting two to three million absentee ballots this year.
“And then, this is the very first year for early in-person voting in the State of Michigan, so we’ll really be learning to see how many people decide to take advantage of that option in this first year that it’s available to them,” she said. “So that’s a little bit more of a wild card.”
Early in-person voting wraps up on November 3, which is the Sunday before Election Day. After that, eligible people can still show up at their clerk’s office to register and vote on the same day.
