LANSING, Michigan — Well over two million absentee ballots have been requested by voters in Michigan ahead of the general election in November.
In total, 2,288,684 absentee ballots have been requested with 1,242,248 already returned as of Wednesday, Oct. 23, according to Michigan's new voting dashboard. That represents a return rate of about 54% with Election Day less than two weeks away.
About 1.8 million of those absentee ballots were sent automatically to voters who signed up to be permanent vote-by-mail voters. The option became available when Proposal 2 was passed by Michigan voters in 2022.
The Michigan Voting Dashboard shows that the nearly 1.25 million absentee ballots returned, as well as 7,054 early ballots cast, account for about 17.2% of the active registered voters in the state.
You can view the number of absentee ballots requested and returned in some West Michigan counties below. Over 175,000 total absentee ballots have been returned from the nine western Michigan counties listed.
Allegan County
- Absentee ballots requested: 25,120
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 13,507
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 18,762
Barry County
- Absentee ballots requested: 13,007
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 6,592
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 10,341
Ionia County
- Absentee ballots requested: 10,761
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 6,198
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 8,794
Kent County
- Absentee ballots requested: 149,002
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 79,034
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 119,593
Montcalm County
- Absentee ballots requested: 10,967
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 6,431
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 9,052
Muskegon County
- Absentee ballots requested: 38,127
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 21,020
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 30,821
Newaygo County
- Absentee ballots requested: 8,075
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 4,236
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 5,990
Oceana County
- Absentee ballots requested: 4,993
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 2,945
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 3,306
Ottawa County
- Absentee ballots requested: 70,769
- Absentee ballots returned so far: 38,876
- Permanent vote-by-mail voters: 57,600
Michigan has 7,248,506 registered voters with an "active" status in the Qualified Voter File. The Qualified Voter File does not include "inactive" voters.
The Michigan Department of State's Election Fact Center said "State and federal law require voters who are inactive because they may have moved to stay on the rolls until the 2-federal cycle waiting period has passed – a period of time that could be up to four years."
