Absentee voters in Michigan urged to hand-deliver ballots to clerk’s office or drop boxes to avoid postal delays

Election Day is just 2 weeks away

(Nati Harnik, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is urging absentee voters to hand-deliver ballots to their local election clerk’s office or ballot drop boxes.

Election Day is two weeks away. Benson said only the absentee ballots received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3 can be counted.

Recommended Videos



“Voters should not risk possible postal delays this close to the deadline,” Benson said. “Voters who already have their absentee ballot should hand-deliver it to their city or township election clerk’s office or ballot drop box. Voters who still plan to request an absentee ballot should visit their clerk’s office to make the request in person, and fill out and submit the ballot all in one trip.”

READ: What to know before voting in General Election in Michigan on Nov. 3, 2020

Registered voters can request absentee ballots and submit them early at their local clerk’s offices through Nov. 2. Citizens can register to vote at their local clerk’s office through Nov. 3, they need to bring proof of residency.

Voters should click here to find their local clerk’s office, drop box locations or track their absentee ballot. As of Monday, more than 1.5 million Michigan citizens already cast absentee ballots and nearly 3 million had requested them.

“We have worked to ensure every citizen has a right to vote absentee in Michigan and have implemented multiple levels of secure protocols and best practices that have been time-tested over decades in other states,” Benson said. “That’s why we can say with confidence that only valid absentee ballots will be counted, and they will be tabulated by bipartisan pairs of election workers trained to ensure votes are tallied without political bias and in accordance with elections law.”

READ: Michigan bans open carry of firearms at voting locations on Election Day


About the Author:

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.