More than 670,000 Michigan voters have completed and returned their absentee ballots to clerks, with three weeks to go before the presidential election on Nov. 5.
Those 672,585 ballots make up about 31% of the 2.1 million absentee ballots that have so far been requested, according to data released by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office Tuesday. The tally is about 12% of the total 5.5 million ballots cast in the 2020 election.
The return rate as of Tuesday is slightly lower than around this same time in 2020. Three weeks out from the 2020 election, about 34%, or nearly 1 million ballots, had been completed and returned of the 2.8 million requested. That year, Benson sent absentee ballot applications to each Michigan voter in an effort to promote remote voting options during the pandemic.
The state’s voters can check the status of their absentee ballot application and the ballot itself at michigan.gov/vote.
People who requested and received their absentee ballots can return them by mail, walk them into their clerk’s office, or feed their absentee ballot through a tabulator at their local early voting site or on Election Day at their precinct.
Detroit, the state’s largest city, has issued 100,470 absentee ballots and so far received 41,235, or about 41%, completed ballots back, according to Tuesday’s data from Benson’s office.
Grand Rapids has issued about 34,258 absentee ballots and had 10,112 returned, a roughly 30% return rate. The city of Warren has received 7,449 completed absentee ballots after issuing 24,179; and Sterling Heights has received 8,397 absentee ballots back after issuing 25,042.
In 2024, voters also have the option of voting in-person on Election Day or visiting an early, in-person voting site starting Oct. 26 (or earlier in a few communities) to vote in person.
Early voting in most of the state begins Saturday, Oct. 26 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 3. Detroit will open its early voting centers earlier on Saturday, Oct. 19 and East Lansing and Canton Township will open early voting centers on Monday, Oct. 21.
Proposal 2 of 2022, passed 60%-40% by voters, requires at least nine days of early voting prior to statewide and federal elections, but allows for up to 29 days of early voting based on the preferences of the community. Some communities will have their own early voting center, while other smaller municipalities plan to share an early voting center.
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