With just less than a month remaining before Election Day, absentee voters in Detroit have returned 20,000 ballots to the Department of Elections, and officials are encouraging residents to continue to utilize any of the city-wide 38 dropbox locations.
The city’s election department says it sent out 101,000 absentee ballots between Sept. 19 and 24. The Detroit City Clerk’s office is “very encouraged” by having about 20% of all absentee ballots returned four weeks ahead of Election Day, Matt Friedman, a spokesperson for Detroit Votes, said in an email to BridgeDetroit.
The elections office is recommending absentee ballots be mailed no later than Oct. 19. Otherwise, they should be placed in any of Detroit’s ballot drop box sites by hand. Voters with transportation issues can call the Detroit City Clerk at (313) 224-3270 before 5 p.m. on Nov. 1 to request that their absentee ballot be picked up.
Turnout in the August primary was about 21%, and participation is expected to be even higher for the November midterms. Detroiters have several voting options: early in-person voting, early voting via “no excuse” absentee ballot, and traditional in-person voting on Election Day.
Voters in Michigan will decide the race for governor, attorney general and secretary of state as well as seats for state Legislature and congressional seats.
Detroit voters will also weigh in on both full and partial terms for the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education. The ballot will feature two races: 31 candidates running for four seats with four-year terms and a separate race with three candidates seeking a single seat for a partial term that will end in 2028.
There is also a countywide ballot proposal for a millage aimed at supporting operations of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Society.
With eight Early Voting Centers and 38 absentee drop boxes, Detroit has more places to vote early in person than elsewhere in the state. The city of Detroit has 158 polling locations.
Last week, voters with disabilities spoke out during Detroit City Council’s formal sessions about challenges they’d faced at the polls in the city with Voter Assist Terminals (VATs).
Residents said the machines often don’t function properly or aren’t available in a timely manner, taking away the ability to vote independently.
In response, the Department of Elections said complaints about VATs aren’t made often. But when they are, a team is quickly dispatched to the polling site to rectify it.
In the August primary, election monitors from the US Department of Justice visited multiple polling sites in the city as part of its efforts to monitor elections in four Michigan cities. The overall effort, the DOJ has said, was to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.
DOJ monitors are required to sign into the polling book once they arrive at a voting site and present identification. They are not allowed to take any actions to obstruct or interfere with the voting process and cannot stand near voters or watch ballots be fed into tabulators.
Friedman said Tuesday that the Department of Elections has no information yet on whether any federal monitors are anticipated in Detroit for the general election.
“Based on experience with past elections, including the most recent primary in August, the possible presence of federal monitors should not affect any Detroiter’s plan to vote,” he said. “Election inspectors, challengers and monitors are part of legal processes and should not get in the way of anyone’s ability to cast a ballot.”
Detroit Votes, he added, “encourages all Detroiters to vote in whatever way fits best into their lives: absentee, in-person early voting or on Election Day at your local precinct”
Detroit plans to offer 10 days of early voting from Oct. 24 to Nov. 2. The city’s early voting sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the first nine days, including Saturdays and Sundays. Early voting on Nov. 2 will take place at two sites from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. – the Clerk’s Office at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave., and at the Department of Elections, 2978 W. Grand Blvd.
Early Voting Center sites
- Adams Butzel Recreation Complex, 10500 Lyndon St. 48238
- Clark Park, 1130 Clark St. 48209
- Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave. Ste 106 48226
- Detroit Department of Elections, 2978 W. Grand Blvd. 48202
- Farwell Recreation Center, 2711 E. Outer Dr. 48234
- Northwest Activities Center, 18100 Meyers Rd. 48235
- Wayne County Community College Northwest Campus, 8200 W. Outer Dr. 48219
- Wayne County Community College Eastern Campus, 5901 Conner St. 48213
Find more information about early voting and drop box sites via this interactive map from Detroit Votes.
More questions? Check out the BridgeDetroit voter guide for all you need to know to cast your ballot and learn about DPSCD candidates here.
