Inform yourself on Michigan elections

Michigan's elections are decentralized, meaning they are carried out by local Republican, Democratic, and nonpartisan election clerks in the state's 1,521 cities and townships.

This bolsters election security by making it difficult for hackers to attack the decentralized system, and for statewide fraud to occur without coordination among hundreds of sworn, locally elected officials.

Michigan has one of the best voter registration rates in the country, thanks in large part to its pioneering work registering voters when they conduct vehicle and ID transactions at Secretary of State offices (now a national best practice). Additionally, in 2018, Michigan voters enshrined the right to automatic voter registration in our state constitution. Now, unless they opt out, all eligible citizens are registered to voter when conducting many transactions with the Secretary of State. The process also helps maintain the voter registration list by checking to confirm eligibility of all registered voters when they renew their IDs and driver's licenses with the Secretary of State.

All registered voters in Michigan have the right to vote using an absentee ballot. Voters may complete an application for an absentee ballot with their local clerk online at Michigan.gov/Vote or submit a printed and signed request to their clerk by email, mail, or in person.

Voters can vote by absentee ballot through the mail without leaving their homes. They can also go to their city or township clerk's office or drop box to return their absentee ballot, which is recommended when returning a ballot within two weeks of Election Day in order to avoid possible postal delays. Voters also have the option to return their absentee ballot to their Early Voting or Election Day polling locations. NOTE: Voters in Detroit cannot return the absentee ballot to their polling location on Election Day.

Absentee voting is a time-tested secure system in Michigan. Clerks check signatures on both absentee ballot requests and ballot envelopes against the signatures they have on file to verify the identity of every voter.

Michigan.gov/Vote

Many other states allow clerks to preprocess, and in some cases count, absentee ballots before Election Day in order to ensure timely unofficial results on election night and prevent misinformation and conspiracy theories from undermining voters' faith in elections. In Michigan, limited preprocessing was permitted in populous communities in 2020 and 2022.

Currently, any city or township that provides written notice to the Secretary of State no later than 28 days before Election Day may establish an absent voter counting board to process and tabulate absent voter ballots between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the Monday immediately before Election Day. A city or township with a population of at least 5,000 may authorize an absent voter counting board to process and tabulate absent voter ballots between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on any of the 8 days before Election Day.

Similarly, a combined absent voter counting board may process and tabulate absent voter ballots between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on any of the 8 days before Election Day. MCL 168.765a. The processing and tabulation of absentee ballots does not include totaling the vote count; election results are not generated, printed, or reported before 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Because Michigan uses all paper ballots and prints paper tallies of the counts, there is always a physical record of all votes. Additionally, the physical record ensures reporting errors are caught and corrected before or at the county canvass. This paper trail provides Michigan with yet another layer of security.

Michigan has 83 counties, 281 cities, and 1,240 townships. During an election, each of these units of government requires a staff of paid workers to assist voters and help process ballots. Election workers, precinct inspectors and election inspectors are people who are paid to assist voters and count ballots on Election Day. Their participation is crucial to the election process and they are witnesses to its integrity.

Election challengers may be appointed by political parties and qualified interest groups to observe the election process. Challengers are permitted to use electronic devices in polling places, early voting sites, and absent voter counting boards, so long as the device is not disruptive and so long as the device is not used to photograph or make video or audio recordings, with the exception of posted election results.

Furthermore, challengers may not handle or touch the pollbook or e-pollbook or election materials and may not approach and question voters. A challenger cannot challenge a voter's right to vote unless the challenger has "good reason to believe" that the voter is not eligible to vote in the precinct.

Challenger instructions

The electronic pollbook is a downloaded list from the Qualified Voter File of all the registered voters in a given precinct that is loaded onto a laptop prior to each election. This allows election inspectors to look up a voter's registration record, confirm they are in the correct polling place and assign a ballot to that voter. Once a ballot has been issued to a voter, the e-pollbook record will reflect that fact, preventing double voting. Additionally, the e-pollbook will alert the election inspector if a voter appearing to vote at the polls has already early voted or cast an absentee ballot, which also prevents double voting.

For early voting, an early voting electronic pollbook accesses the Qualified Voter File, a secure voter records database that sends and receives regular updates of a voter’s ballot activity. Ballot information entered at any early voting site is regularly uploaded to prevent the issuance of duplicate ballots.

In Michigan, election results are not generated, printed, or reported before 8 p.m. on Election Day. MCL 168.765a. Review pretabulation of absentee ballots, under Before Election Day, for more information.

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Because only limited pre-processing of absentee ballots is currently allowed in Michigan (review pre-processing absentee ballots listed under Before Election Day), when large numbers of voters vote absentee, completion of the counting process can take many hours, if not days, after the close of polls.

Because Michigan uses all paper ballots, and tabulation machines print the vote counts, there is always a paper record that can be reviewed if a reporting error occurs. When 1,521 jurisdictions are reporting results from several thousand precincts, it is not uncommon for isolated reporting errors to occur, when election workers record or transmit unofficial numbers incorrectly. However, the bipartisan county boards of canvassers compare the physical tabulation records to the unofficial results and correct any errors before certifying the election and making results official.

Michigan law provides a mechanism for counting ballots again in certain circumstances:

• Automatic - A recount of all precincts in the state is automatically conducted if the difference between the number of votes received by a candidate nominated or elected to a statewide office and the number of votes received by the second-place candidate is 2,000 votes or less. The provision does not extend to the following offices: State Board of Education, University of Michigan Regent, Michigan State University Trustee or Wayne State University Governor. A recount of all precincts in the state is similarly conducted if the difference between the "Yes" vote and the "No" vote cast on a statewide ballot proposal is 2,000 votes or less.
  
• By petition - A candidate for a federal, state, county, city, township, village, or school office who believes that the canvass of the votes cast for the office is incorrect because of fraud or error in the precinct returns may petition for a recount of the votes cast in the precincts involved. Candidates seeking a precinct delegate position do not have the right to petition for a recount. In addition, a registered elector who voted at an election at which a question appeared on the ballot, who believes that the canvass of the votes cast on the question is incorrect because of fraud or error in the precinct returns may petition for a recount of the votes cast in the precincts involved.

Post-election audits are important for the transparency of elections, and for clerks to review past practices and identify opportunities for future improvement. Michigan conducts several types of post-election audits. They include the following:

• Procedural audits, which thoroughly review procedures performed before, during, and after the conduct of an election.
• Risk-limiting audits, which draw and hand-tally a random sample of ballots to affirm the accuracy of vote-counting machines.
• Absentee counting board audits, which review the specific processes for tabulating absentee ballots.

A bipartisan county or state board canvasses primaries and elections by reviewing the procedures used to carry out the election as well as unofficial results, and correcting any clerical errors in the unofficial results. This is done before results are certified.

A bipartisan county or state board certifies a primary by declaring the final vote totals obtained at the primary, the names of the nominees for the offices involved and the outcome of any questions on the ballot. A board certifies an election by declaring the final vote totals obtained at the election, the names of the candidates elected to the offices involved and the outcome of any questions on the ballot.