“No significant support” for Michigan voters, secretary of state reports

A voting sign in East Lansing, February 24, 2024 | Susan J Demas

According to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, in-person voting is proceeding fairly smoothly across the state.

“It’s not consistent across the state, but where there are lines, they move quickly and we have no significant congestion or issues related to waiting to vote today,” spokeswoman Angela Benander said during a midday news briefing.

(2024 Voter Guide: All the candidate information you need to vote.)

Benander said a total of 3,345,823 ballots had been returned as of 11:30 a.m., representing about 46.1% of active registered voters in Michigan. Of those, 2,131,374 were mail-in ballots, 25,000 of which were returned on Tuesday.

Additionally, 3,704 voters had registered as of Tuesday, up from the 829 same-day voter registrations reported as of 9 a.m

In 2018, Michigan voters approved Proposition 3, which added eight voting policies to the Michigan Constitution, including same-day voter registration.

Citizens eligible since then can register in person or update their voter registration on election day until 8:00 p.m. in the city or municipal administration office. However, they must provide proof of residency.

Benander said both Detroit and Flint reported processing pre-submitted ballots quickly.

“That’s why we’re excited to hear reports from the larger jurisdictions taking advantage of the new law that allows them to pre-process mail-in ballots before Election Day in hopes of speeding things up a little bit come election night when it comes to reporting on official ones Results,” she said.

Statistics on the number of registered voters who actually cast a ballot today will not be available until after 9 p.m., when all polling places in Michigan close, including the four Upper Peninsula counties at Central Time.