More than 1 million Michigan voters have cast an early ballot as of Monday morning in-person at a location, by mail or by dropbox. The number is 13% higher pre-Election Day turnout than in the 2020 presidential primary. 

Of that number, more than 78,000 Michiganders have selected the new in-person, pre-Election Day voting option. 

The Michigan presidential primary election is Tuesday. 

“The more citizens hear about early voting as an option, the more they are likely to take advantage of it,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said at a news conference Monday at the state government office in Cadillac Place in Detroit.  

She was joined by Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist and Promote the Vote Michigan Executive Director Micheal Davis. 

“The work ahead of us to continue to promote early voting and ensure the voters are aware of this new method for future elections,” Siegrist said. 

 

Davis said Promote the Vote will continue its efforts to collaborate county and local clerks as well as voters to address “voter-related issues.” 

Benson, along with more than 6,500 voters across the state, cast a ballot in the presidential primary on Feb.17, the first day of in-person early voting. The Democrat, who was first elected in 2018, cast her ballot in Detroit, the city in which she resides. 

On Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope to promote early voting options.

This is the first time in Michigan’s history that voters have had the option to cast a ballot in-person at an early voting site during a statewide election. At least nine days of in-person early voting for statewide and federal elections is now a constitutional requirement following the 2022 passage of Proposal 2. 

Michigan is the 22nd state to implement in-person, polling-place style early voting, according to Benson. 

“It’s been citizens themselves who through ballot initiatives in 2018 and 2022 created these options for themselves and we as elections administrators and clerks are proud to fulfill their wishes by making in-person early voting and no-reason absentee voting a reality for all,” Benson said.