KENT COUNTY, Mich — The Kent County clerk says absentee voting continues to surpass Election Day voting.
The clerk says 58% of ballots cast in the August 6, 2024 primary election were from absentee voting. Only 39% of ballots were cast were from polling locations on Election Day.
The clerk says this continues the trend in Kent County, with more absentee votes than election day votes.
"I'm expecting that that as we go through particularly November and then cycles down the line, I think that participation for early voting will increase," said Lisa Posthumus Lyons, the county clerk. "But we've seen a lot of absentee voting. In August, we had about 60% of Kent County voters utilized absentee voting."
The clerk says turnout for the primary election in August was around 26%.
Kent County is planning to print 600,000 absentee ballots for this year's election.
This year, all the ballots will include new safety measures, too. Each will have a watermark identifying it as an official election ballot, according to Posthumus Lyons.
Find out more on absentee ballots and how to get yours here.