GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan's first-ever early voter is a resident of East Grand Rapids.
The voter made history on Oct. 28 when they cast their ballot at the city's early voting site in the East Grand Rapids Community Center.
In the 2022 election, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2, a constitutional amendment to establish early voting.
The proposal states that early voting must be offered for a minimum of nine consecutive days before any statewide and federal election, starting with the 2024 presidential election.
East Grand Rapids City Clerk, Lori Parmenter, decided to pilot early voting for the upcoming election to iron out any issues and ensure a smooth voting process for the 2024 presidential election.
This decision made East Grand Rapids the only community in Kent County to pilot early voting.
Michigan's Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, visited the early voting site on Thursday.
Benson said piloting this early voting program is important in helping to determine how voters react to the new process, what questions they may have and when they're voting. She said these are all important factors to account for ahead of the presidential election and larger quantities of voters.
"Knowing the spotlight is going to be on Michigan in 2024, we want to make sure to get it right in every election," Benson said. "So starting now, piloting early voting, piloting the new technology that is working really well and securely, ensuring our clerks and election workers know the drill, that helps us hit the ground running for our February primary and for our August and November elections next year."
Voters in East Grand Rapids can cast their ballot early through Nov. 5. As of Thursday morning, 100 voters have already cast their ballots.
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