More than 1.2 million Michiganders voted early and in-person for the November election. It was the first time voters in the state had the option to vote in-person nine days before a presidential election.
To get an idea of who used the new option and what it might tell us about the future of voting in the state, WKAR’s Melorie Begay spoke with Votebeat election reporter Hayley Harding.
Interview Highlights
On who took advantage of early in-person voting
Older voters largely preferred it. You know, something like one in three of all early voters were 60 or older. And then more than half of those people were at least 51 years old.
On the state getting youth to vote
We have a lot of people, particularly younger people, registered to vote. I think Michigan did a lot of work to make sure that those people made it from "I am registered" to "I am actually at the polls this time."
On the future of early voting options in Michigan
I think this is setting us up in Michigan for this expectation that we are going to continue to have these options for people to vote. People like the choice. They like the ability to decide when and where and ho w they vote. And I think that's something that if it were to go away for whatever reason, people would be understandably upset about.
Interview Transcript
Melorie Begay: This past election season, more than 1.2 million Michiganders voted early and in-person. It was the first time voters in the state had the option to vote in-person nine days before a general election.
To get an idea of who used the new option and what it might tell us about the future of voting in the state, I spoke with Votebeat election reporter Hayley Harding.
Based on your reporting on the early voting turnout, what groups of people took advantage of early in-person voting ahead of the November election?
Hayley Harding: I think that was something that I was actually a little surprised to see. Older voters largely preferred it. You know, something like one in three of all early voters were 60 or older. And then more than half of those people were at least 51 years old which it kind of tracks with who has the time to kind of go out and cast their ballot early are people with generally more flexible schedules, retirees.
It's not really a surprise to see, but I think the interesting part was that we also saw a lot of younger people, something like 17.3% of people 18-30 were also voting early, which is just it's maybe not expected, but it's a sign that this is very popular with a younger generation of voters who will probably come to expect it in elections to come.
Begay: I’m curious about the youth vote, as you mentioned, because there was a lot of focus on getting young people to the polls during the election season. I mean, here at WKAR on MSU’s campus, for example, we hosted a voting center for the city of East Lansing. So, I'm curious, how do you think those initiatives made by the state helped get that vote out?
Harding: Yeah, I think Michigan, kind of, historically has done pretty well in getting young voters to the polls. The problem that we have in Michigan, which is kind of true across the board is we'll have a significant number of young people registered, but we don't always have a ton of young people voting.
In Michigan, we have a program that allows young people to pre-register to vote, starting at age, I believe, 16 and a half, which basically just sets them up for when they turn 18 and are legal to vote, they have that option right away. They're immediately registered, right? And we also have a program in Michigan where anybody who gets a driver's license is registered to vote.
It is a rite of passage to get your license when you turn 16 or maybe a little older, right? So the end result is we have a lot of people, particularly younger people, registered to vote. I think Michigan did a lot of work to make sure that those people made it from "I am registered" to "I am actually at the polls this time."
You know, I think there's definitely still some room to grow there. But I think, you know, people turning up to vote at all is a great sign, because this is one of our fundamental rights, and the more people who use it, the better the system works.
Begay: So overall, what does the ability to have more options do for voter turnout in Michigan?
Harding: I think what we learned about turnout here in Michigan this year is that people like having options, right? We know that people, a lot of people, started absentee voting during the pandemic, and they are continuing that trend. And we now know that more than 20% of voters, maybe not everybody, loved it, but more than 20% of voters took advantage of the opportunity to cast their ballot early.
And when I visited early voting centers all across the state during the end of October and early November, what I was seeing was people saying over and over again, "I had time now. I wanted to get it done. I don't want to have to worry about it on Election Day, but I do want my vote to be in and be counted."
I think this is setting us up in Michigan for this expectation that we are going to continue to have these options for people to vote. People like the choice. They like the ability to decide when and where and how they vote. And I think that's something that if it were to go away for whatever reason, people would be understandably upset about.
Begay: The number of people casting ballots early, 2hat do you think that tells us about the future of campaign season?
Harding: Yeah, you know, I'm not a campaign expert, but I think something that we might be able to expect to see in the future is more pushes to get candidates here in Michigan before that early voting period.
Obviously, Michigan is a critical swing state, and I think especially given that people now have the option to lock their votes in something like two weeks before the election almost, in some places even longer. You know, it depends city by city.
I expect that we're going to see more candidates coming, not necessarily just in that week leading up, but in the days leading up to the opening of early voting as well, so that they can try to encourage people to lock their votes in as soon as they can. I don't know if that's something we necessarily saw this year. I think what we saw in 2024 was a kind of standard campaign practice in terms of candidates visiting Michigan, but I'll be interested to see how that changes as we move forward.
Begay: Hayley Harding is an election reporter with Votebeat. Thanks for joining me today.
Harding: Thank you.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
