WALKER, Mich. — Walker City Clerk Sarah Bydalek says concerns about voting are even greater this year due to COVID-19.
"Everybody is always worried about absentee ballots. This year we are already at a 60 percent request for absentee ballots and that is only going to grow for November because of the amount of people voting," says Bydalek.
In 2018, voters approved a new law that allowed anyone in the state to vote absentee. The record numbers expected this year has Walker, Grand Rapids Township, Cannon Township and Lansing trying a new system for absentee called TrackMiBallot.
"This system allows us to see the mail go through the post office from the clerk to the voter and from the voter back to the clerk," says Brian Quist the founder of the system.
"On the absentee ballot envelope is a track my ballot website that they can go to and they can put their name in and track their ballot when it comes in from the City of Walker," says Bydalek.
If it works, many more Michigan cities could use the system in November that organizers believe will prevent fraud.
"There's been a lot of talk about how vote through the mail has problems and fraud issues and we can completely prevent that with this system because we can see the mail traveling," says Quist.
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