Start Checking Your Mailbox for Absentee Ballots

Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding absentee ballots. If you are among the millions of Michigan voters planning to cast an absentee ballot, then it's time to start checking the mailbox.

According to the Lansing State Journal, Michigan clerks must send ballots at least 40 days before the Nov. 3 election, to voters who have requested them.

According to the Secretary of State, more than 2.3 million Michigan voters have requested absentee ballots so far.

If you remember back in 2016, before the last presidential election, about 590,000 people had requested absentee ballots by late September of that year.

"A trio of local clerks, Lansing Chris Swope, East Lansing Clerk Jennifer Shuster and Delhi Township Clerk Evan Hope said they will mail a record number of absentee ballots this year." (LSJ)

If you just take a look at Lansing alone, they've sent out 28,000 absentee ballots to local residents. And of course, that number increases on a daily basis. Election workers are very busy these days.

"If you are interested in receiving an absentee ballot, clerks will continue mailing absentee ballots as they receive requests from voters. Absentee ballots can be requested online through Oct. 30." (LSJ)

Here's something else to keep in mind:

Last week, a judge ruled ballots postmarked by Nov. 2, a day before the election, and received within 14 days of the election must be counted.

Local clerks have been installing drop boxes around communities, providing opportunities for voters to return ballots themselves instead of dropping them in the mail.