Michiganders can now sign up to always receive absentee ballots for upcoming elections.
The permanent mail ballot list was created after voters approved a ballot proposal in November of 2022. The measure also requires polling places to be open for at least eight hours per day during the nine days before an election.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope says more than 35,000 city residents received an email recently with instructions on how to enroll. They won’t need to do anything after that.
“They will get a ballot mailed to them automatically that they can simply return through drop box or through the postal system or bring it in person to the clerk's office," he said. "It just simplifies the voting process.”
He says in the past, voters had to sign up every election to receive an absentee ballot.
"This year is the first time that Michigan has anything in place where you could do this permanent recurring ballot that just comes to you for every election, and it'll just streamline the process for a lot of folks," he explained.
The deadline to sign up to be placed on the list is the Friday before every election.
The next election will be held on August 8. Voters can enroll in the new list by visiting the Secretary of State’s website.
