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Michigan Primary Sees Heavy Shift to Absentee and Early Voting

The August primary’s turnout was driven by mailed and early in-person ballots, a change that could shape voter behavior in November.

Overview

  • State data show turnout was just under 22% of active registered voters with about 1,380,701 absentee ballots returned, 139,608 early in-person votes, and 83,263 Election Day in-person votes.
  • Detroit officials said Tuesday that all 157 polling places opened on time and that workers processed and tallied more than 55,000 absentee ballots with roughly 7,000 additional ballots pending verification.
  • The U.S. Department of Justice deployed observer teams to Detroit, East Lansing and Lansing to monitor provisional voting and voter assistance terminals and local officials reported no systemic problems.
  • Election offices handled results by processing absentee ballots over several days, verifying signatures and voter information before counting, and uploading precinct memory-card totals on election night.
  • The rise in early and absentee voting follows Michigan measures approved in 2018 and 2022 and county-level patterns in places like Washtenaw, Oakland and Livingston suggest the shift could affect party turnout in November.