With less than six weeks to go until the midterms, Lansing’s city clerk is giving residents a little extra time to submit their ballots before November 8th.
The city clerk’s office announced this week it would be offering extended hours at its main election unit location at 2500 South Washington Avenue. While residents can visit either the election unit or City Hall weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5p.m, the South Washington office will be open two extra hours until 7 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Lansing city clerk Chris Swope says the extended hours are meant to make it easier for residents to choose how they want to vote. Residents can request or pick up an absentee ballot, submit their ballots early at the clerk’s offices, or vote at their polling place on Election Day.
“We want to do everything to make each of those three as convenient for folks as possible,” Swope said. “So by having our office hours a little bit extended, we can make sure that we accommodate folks.”
The city plans to extend operations for its South Washington location on Oct. 29 with a Halloween voting event called “Trunk or Treat Souls to the Polls.” Residents can pick up a ballot while taking their families trick-or-treating.
While the office is normally closed on weekends, the main election unit will also be open the weekend before Election Day.
Swope says the city wanted to offer more flexible hours for people to register or fill out a ballot who couldn’t make it during working hours. He says the city has already received more than 16,000 requests for absentee ballots and that he’s seeing more requests being filed every day.