LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is celebrating over 700,000 ballots already cast for the primary election on Aug. 6.
She made the announcement during a press conference Monday, just a few days after early voting in the state began on Saturday, July 27. The early voting period lasts through Sunday, Aug. 4.
Benson said that more than 10,600 voters cast a ballot during the first weekend of in-person early voting on Saturday and Sunday.
By comparison, a total of more than 78,000 Michigan voters cast their ballots during the first-ever in-person early voting election in Michigan's Presidential Primary on Feb. 27, 2024.
Benson added that as of Monday morning, 1.6 million Michiganders have requested an absentee ballot for the primary and almost 700,000 have been submitted.
Benson celebrated the turnout thus far and shared how her office takes the responsibility of running elections very seriously and is working to make sure that every valid vote is counted.
"The eyes of the nation will be on our state, just as they were in 2020. And as a state through which the presidency runs as a battleground state, our citizens are very likely to cast votes in this cycle that will determine the next President of the United States," said Benson. "So we, and I know they take that responsibility seriously. The importance of ensuring every valid vote counts and only valid votes count, is at the forefront of our minds."
The August primary election is also the first election where election clerks can securely tabulate absentee ballots early, due to the passage of Proposal 2 in 2022 which amended the Michigan Constitution to allow for early voting and early tabulation of votes. The results of the early tabulated votes will not be made available until the polls close on election day.
Sterling Heights City Clerk Melanie Ryska spoke at the press event and added that she expects that the early tabulation of absentee ballots will speed up the return of election results on Aug. 6 and other future elections.
The Michigan Department of State did report a technical issue on Saturday that temporarily affected early voting electronic poll books, but said that the issue was resolved quickly.
To learn more about early and absentee voting as well as finding important dates and times for the upcoming election, check out our guide here.
You can watch the entire press conference here: