Absent voter ballot numbers continue to grow steadily ahead of the Aug. 4 state primary, with more than 1.8 million requested and more than 600,000 already returned, according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The total number of absent voter ballots cast in the August 2016 state primary was 484,094.
“The volume of absentee ballot requests and returns we’re seeing underscores the near universal enthusiasm Michigan voters share for casting their ballot in a way that is safe, secure and convenient,” Benson said.
The 2016 primary was held before voters in 2018 amended the state constitution to allow all Michigan voters to cast ballots from home.
The first statewide election after that amendment passed was the March 10, 2020, presidential primary, which occurred before there were any known cases of COVID-19 in Michigan.
In that primary one million absent-voter ballots were issued, barely half of the 1.8 million already issued for Aug. 4.
More election workers are needed to process the increase in absent-voter ballots, staff polling places, and serve in place of older or immunocompromised Michiganders who have done so in the past but cannot this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Benson encouraged Michiganders to serve as paid election workers through the Department of State’s Democracy MVP initiative, which has already recruited more than 4,500 interested election workers.
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