LANSING, Mich. — Michiganders will have a new way to track the total number of absentee and early ballots cast this election.
The Michigan Voting Dashboard is the state's latest tool to help voters visualize early voting data for the upcoming election in November. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced the new voting dashboard in Detroit last week.
The dashboard tracks the total number of absentee ballots, sent, received and requested, in addition to the total ballots cast at early voting locations.
The new voting dashboard uses data from the Michigan Department of State's Qualified Voter File (QVF) and is updated once per day.
In Michigan, voters have the choice to request to permanently vote by mail and automatically receive an absentee ballot ahead of each election.
The new dashboard also tracks how many Michiganders have requested the permanent absentee ballot option.
As of Monday, Oct. 21 at 12 p.m., a total of 2,235,804 absentee ballots have been requested and a total of 1,022,763 absentee ballots have been returned.