LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s Secretary of State is working to get information about early in-person voting to the public ahead of this month’s presidential primary election.
In the fall, early voting pilot programs ran across the state to test the new voting laws that require nine days of early, in-person voting. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the Department of State was able to learn a lot from the pilot program launched in Marquette.
With the upcoming presidential primary, she said her office is anticipating some questions, uncertainty, and anxiety surrounding the changes. Going into this, it’s why in in. She said the pilot helped to slowly ease into the extended voting period by inviting neighboring clerks to observe the different scenarios and situations that could be done for early voting.
“One of the things I’ve seen in talking with our clerks in rural areas is not just how important the funding from the legislature was, as well as the flexibility that they were given in the laws. But in addition to that, the fact that there are many days. Nine days gives clerks an opportunity to say to a voter ‘If you can’t get to this early voting site on a Monday, maybe you can get there on a Saturday or next Saturday’.” Secretary Benson explained. “There are so many options now that this is an added value across the board. With the funding and flexibility in place to make sure it’s not much of an additional burden for our clerks, all signs point to this being successful as well as welcomed by clerks throughout the state.”
Secretary Benson said it was important for them to work with clerks to ensure people had options and funding. With the presidential primary having a lower turnout ratio than what Michigan normally sees in November, Benson explained that it serves as a second opportunity to work with clerks and continue to ease into this new process before elections this fall.
“The main question and concern I heard from rural voters, particularly in the Upper Peninsula, but throughout Northern Michigan as well we’re the same questions every clerk had about the new technology, and making sure you had enough staff, and places where people could vote early, and support from the state on all fronts,” Benson explained. “I think in part because citizens in every county voted for this initiative, there’s a great deal of education already in the field that has made this smoother than I think it would have been had it been enacted, the whole cloth, by the legislature.”
Early voting starts this Saturday, February 17th. You can find more information about where that will take place in your area at Michigan.gov/sos/elections/voting/early-in-person-voting
