LANSING (WWJ) Early voting is now available for all communities statewide.
Westland city officials told WWJ nearly 100 people were already waiting in line outside City Hall when early voting began on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. The City of Warren reported about 900 voters as of 2:15 p.m. Rochester and Commerce Township also reported "large turnouts."
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FAQ about early voting in Michigan
The 2024 Presidential Primary marked the first time early voting was an option in Michigan— after voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment in 2022, allowing the practice for both local and federal elections.
State law requires at least nine consecutive days of in-person early voting for all communities--with at least one location open to residents of every city or township for a minimum of eight hours per day. Detroit began early voting last Saturday (10/19); and Canton Township and East Lansing, on Monday (10/21). Communities have the option to provide up to 28 days of early voting under the law. It ends across the state on Sunday, November 3rd.
However, officials said the results will not be tabulated until Election Day.
“At the end of the day, ballots are secured. They’re put into sealed containers and then placed into a locked room, but nothing is tabulated until after 8 p.m. on Election Day,” Westland City Clerk Richard LeBlanc said in a live interview on WWJ. “But we will know how many people have voted.”
At early voting sites, voters insert their completed ballot into a tabulator. After it has been inserted into a tabulator, it cannot be traced back to an individual voter, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office (SOS).
“If you get a ballot and you put it into a machine, there is a level of trust involved that the person who is a caretaker is going to take care of it,” LeBlanc said. “And we do…there’s a retention period after the election. If there’s any instance of a legal issue, we will have the actual ballot under seal in a locked room.”
All early voting sites have access to the Qualified Voter File, described by the SOS as "a secure voter records database that sends and receives updates on a voter's ballot activity." If a voter attempts to vote twice or has already voted via absentee ballot, the activity is flagged for election workers to prevent double voting.
Learn more about election security.
Bipartisan election workers staff early voting sites to check-in and assist voters—much like a polling place on Election Day. County and municipal clerks bear the responsibility of “implementing and administering early voting" for their respective communities, according to the SOS.
Voters are not allowed to use photo or video cameras (including the one on their phones) in early voting sites or on Election Day. However, they may take a picture of their own ballot only while in the voting both-- so long as nothing else is in the photo.
Early voting sites do not offer voter registration— unless the site is at a clerk’s office or satellite office. You can register to vote and vote until 8 p.m. on Election Day (November 5th).
Voters are encouraged to bring a valid form of photo identification to the early voting site. However, it is not required to cast a ballot. If you do not have a valid photo ID, you will be asked to sign an Affidavit of Voter Not In Possession of Picture Identification.
LeBlanc said the process will feel similar to voting on Election Day.
“We anticipate, when folks are done, if they have not done this before, they’ll say...yep it was just like in my precinct. But, the difference being, if I went to the precinct on Election Day for the Presidential, I probably would be waiting in line for an hour and a half.”