How to track my ballot in Michigan
(FOX 2) - Millions of Michiganders are voting absentee this general election, with many using this method of voting for the first time. With just days left until Election Day, many are now wondering - has my ballot been received? Will my vote be counted?
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson spoke with FOX 2 in a virtual Town Hall Thursday evening and said everyone is able to check and make sure your ballot has been received and will be counted.
Michigan played a key role in deciding the 2016 and is set to be a key battleground state in this presidential election as well. Everyone wants their vote to be counted.
Every absentee ballot that was sent out in Michigan includes a barcode on the return envelope to help keep track of ballots. You can check on your status in two ways.
CHECK YOUR BALLOT STATUS ONLINE
"As soon as it's been received by your city or township clerk, it will be entered into the qualified voter file as received, and in your voter record - which you can access by entering your information at michigan.gov/vote - your ballot will be marked as received," Benson said.
You can track your ballot at michigan.gov/vote.
CHECK YOUR BALLOT STATUS WITH CLERK'S OFFICE
"You can also follow up directly with your clerk to confirm it's received and validation, especially if you don't see or keep checking to confirm that it's been received over the next few days," Benson said.
WHAT IF MY BALLOT HASN'T BEEN RECEIVED?
"If potentially you get to Monday and it hasn't been received yet, you do have the option of going into your clerk's office or a satellite office to get a replacement ballot again and return that one, in which case all previous ballots would be invalidated," Benson said.
"What I would say is, barring challenges with the mail system - which is why we have to be vigilant - I think you're on track to have your ballot received on time and I would verify it on Monday just to be sure," she continued.
You can track your ballot at michigan.gov/vote.
IS THERE ANY REASON MY BALLOT WOULDN'T BE COUNTED?
Benson said the biggest reason why your absentee ballot wouldn't be counted would be a problem with the signature.
She said signatures are sometimes missing from the outer envelope, or that the signature doesn't match what's in the person's qualified voter file.
City and township clerks are required, though, to follow up with voters that have this issue in efforts to try and validate your identity in other ways.
State law now requires clerks to contact voters who submit an absentee ballot application or absentee ballot without a matching signature within 48 hours of receipt through 8 p.m. the day before an election, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.
WHEN WILL MY BALLOT BE COUNTED?
A bill was passed this year that gives clerks an extra 10 hours of time to prepare the absentee ballots to be counted. Preparing a ballot means the clerk will remove the sealed envelope that contains the ballot, so it will be ready for tabulation quicker on Election Day. Clerks can begin doing that on the Monday before Election Day.
Ballots are not allowed to be tabulated - or, rather, counted - until 7 a.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR ALL BALLOTS TO BE COUNTED?
Benson said they're expecting to count 3.2 million absentee ballots this Tuesday, on top of the ballots received in person. The hope is to have official results in the state of Michigan by Friday, Nov. 6.
"Some counties will be more efficient than others due to population differences and other things, so I anticipate we'll see some reports sporadically after the polls close through the evening," Benson said.
She's estimating counting all the ballots in Michigan will take 80 hours.
"If you aggregate the number of machines we have to tabulate ballots and the number of people - both of which we've increased since August - and then you take the fact that we'll have probably about 3.2 million ballots for those machines to tabulate, it took in August 40 hours to tabulate 1.6 million absentee ballots. So let's just say if you've got double the ballots it's going to take double the time, which is 80 hours which takes us through Friday. Now, as I've mentioned, we've increased the number of machines, we've hired more people to process and tabulate those ballots so it may very well be done sooner, and we've said essentially Friday at the latest is our estimate."
You can get election results here next week after the polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.