Some voters in several communities across Michigan will vote in new locations this election, as more municipalities move to adopt a state law allowing for the consolidation of precincts.
In East Lansing, residents have begun receiving updated voter identification cards in the mail. That's after Council members approved a proposal in January adopting Public Act 227.
The law allows communities to reduce the number of polling sites by increasing the number of voters in one location. Instead of hosting only 2,999 voters at one site, precincts now have the option of hosting 4,999 voters.
By reducing the number of precincts, communities, including East Lansing, say they're saving money on staffing and voting equipment during elections.
The cost of opening precincts has become more expensive as more people take advantage of early and absentee voting.
Less than half of people vote on Election Day, and in 2024 only about 38% of voters voted in person on election day, according to Michigan State University political science associate professor Corwin Smidt. Smidt is the interim director of the Institute for Public Policy and research.
"When we added early voting through a state constitutional amendment, that put a lot of costs on local jurisdictions to also have early voting centers. So, if you imagine having a local precinct on election day, how many people do you need to staff that?" he said.
Smidt said the law eases some of the financial burden local jurisdictions take on. Fewer sites also means there's less need to find staff, a problem many clerks have struggled to solve, Smidt said.
"Politics is more combative now," he said. "People are more scared, and when these individuals who are volunteering or getting paid minimum wage-type wages, it's harder to get polling place volunteers and polling place workers, and it's harder to give them the incentives to train," he said.
While the law provides cost saving benefits for communities that are seeing more residents participate in early and absentee voting, Smidt notes fewer precincts could leave some voters behind.
"No system's perfect," Smidt said. "By making it so that there's fewer precincts and they're farther apart, it may be for those who cannot drive or do not have the freedom to travel, it may make it more constraining than to go to those polling precincts for other individuals."
Smidt adds more interest in voting ahead of Election Day also changes the overall experience of voting, where people are more removed from local elections.
"Most people are just thinking, I just register my vote like I comment on social media, I just say it and I just walk away, and it should be done as easy as possible,"
This is something he said clerks and local governments have to weigh.
"We want higher turnout, but do we want to make it so easy that people don't feel a responsibility or integration within the community?" Smidt said.
He adds by making voting easier, "we're maybe changing how we view the role of voting in the process."
Interview Highlights:
On what prompted the change in precinct size:
"When we added early voting through a state constitutional amendment, that put a lot of costs on local jurisdictions to also have early voting centers. So, if you imagine having a local precinct on election day, how many people do you need to staff that? Well, if you have an early voting center for 10 days or 14 days, that's a lot more staffing. When we pass a constitutional amendment, it's up to the legislator to actually provide the funding for that."
On how this will impact people who vote in person:
"No system's perfect, by making it so that there's fewer precincts and they're farther apart, it may be for those who cannot drive or do not have the freedom to travel, it may make it more constraining than to go to those polling precincts. For other individuals, though, by having it on multiple days, it means that you're less constrained and you don't have to set time aside on election day to go vote....so, we're making it easier for some type of people, and we're making it harder for other types of individuals?"
On what this means for the future of voting:
"It's not the same sort of experience anymore, and so most people are just thinking, I just register my vote like I comment on social media, I just say it and I just walk away, and it should be done as easy as possible. Now, that's one view of voting that we've sort of, as a society we've evolved into, for better or for worse."
Interview Transcript:
Melorie Begay: Some Mid-Michigan voters may be casting their ballots in new locations on election day. That’s as more communities adopt a state law consolidating polling sites. The change allows municipalities to increase the number of residents voting in one precinct. Here to talk about the change and what it means for the future of voting is Michigan State University political science professor, Corwin Smidt, thanks for being here, Corwin.
Corwin Smidt: Thank you. Melorie.
Begay: So what prompted the change in precincts?
Smidt: Well, Michigan now also has early voting. We have a very sort of decentralized election administration system in Michigan, and so when we added early voting through a state constitutional amendment, that put a lot of costs on local jurisdictions to also have early voting centers. So, if you imagine having a local precinct on election day, how many people do you need to staff that?
Well, if you have an early voting center for 10 days or 14 days, that's a lot more staffing. When we pass a constitutional amendment, it's up to the legislator to actually provide the funding for that. When they don't provide as much funding, then the local constituencies, local jurisdictions, have to figure out what to do there, and some of the solution that the state legislature and the local jurisdictions came out with is to increase the size of election precincts on election day.
Because what's true now is less than half of people vote on Election Day, and in 2024 only about 38% of voters voted in person on election day. So, majority of voters actually voted in person or by mail.
Begay: The change in the number of voters allowed per precinct went from 2,999 to 4,999 how was that number determined?
Smidt: I'll be honest, I don't actually have a firm understanding of how it was. What we do know is, on average, most precincts were saying, how many precincts will I need? And by increasing from 3000, about 3000, right? So, it's like a max of 3000 to a max of 5000. What jurisdictions are coming with is that, that was reducing, basically, the number of staff by about 40% right?
So, there you’re reducing the number of needs, and that was like saying that was reducing the amount of budget that you would have for election day, but then that budget was going to get used on early voting.
Begay: Will this help with the clerk's workload when gearing up for and conducting elections?
Smidt: Well, yes, so I'll just say this, it's really hard. I'm part of survey studies, where we survey clerks and we also survey polling place workers, and part of the issue is the pay for the type of experience you now have in a polling place. Politics is more combative now. People are more concerned about what goes on. People are more scared, and when these individuals who are volunteering or getting paid minimum wage-type wages, it's harder to get polling place volunteers and polling place workers, and it's harder to give them the incentives to train.
So, if we have fewer volunteers and fewer workers, we're going to have to increase the precinct size. That means we need to distribute those more effective volunteers and more effective workers across larger precincts.
Begay: How do you think this will impact people who choose to vote in person on election day?
Smidt: For some people, having early voting does make things easier. Having those actual options makes it easier. But for other individuals, it means that they're polling precincts much farther away.
So, what we have is, like no system's perfect, by making it so that there's fewer precincts and they're farther apart, it may be for those who cannot drive or do not have the freedom to travel, it may make it more constraining than to go to those polling precincts. For other individuals, though, by having it on multiple days, it means that you're less constrained and you don't have to set time aside on election day to go vote.
The distance away can matter, however, for some individuals, it's like, is the precinct on my way home when I drive home? And so, we're making it easier for some type of people, and we're making it harder for other types of individuals.
Begay: What does this change say about voting today, or maybe even opening a precinct?
Smidt: It's not the same sort of experience anymore, and so most people are just thinking, I just register my vote like I comment on social media, I just say it and I just walk away, and it should be done as easy as possible. Now, that's one view of voting that we've sort of, as a society we've evolved into, for better or for worse.
The clerks and the government have to sort of—"we want higher turnout, but do we want to make it so easy that people don't feel a responsibility or integration?” Within the community, they just vote, and they just think, I should be able to vote wherever I want. In some states now, we make it where, if you're registered in a different area, but you show up and you vote, your votes for statewide office count, in some states, they allege. So, then a lot of people just show up randomly everywhere and just say, I don't care about local offices. I'm just going to vote for governor and president. And that's fine, but that means that we're cutting out, by allowing that, we're actually robbing the local community of all those people who could participate. So by making voting easier, we're maybe changing how we view the role of voting in the process.
Begay: Corwin Smith is a political science professor at Michigan State University. Thanks for being here, Corwin.
Smidt: Thank you, Melorie, my pleasure.
Begay: This is WKAR.
