Michigan
Answers to frequent Michigan absentee ballot questions
Michigan’s clerks are set Thursday to start sending absentee ballots to voters for the Nov. 5 election, a form of voting that became popular in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and is available to all registered voters in the state.
Under a constitutional amendment approved by state voters in 2018, registered voters can request an absentee ballot ahead of time for any reason. In the past, such ballots were limited to registered voters with certain qualifications, such as people 60 years and older or residents who were going to be out of town on Election Day.
The following are answers to questions about getting, filling out and returning an absentee ballot and other related issues, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.
Requesting an absentee ballot
Voters can apply for an absentee ballot application at their local clerk’s office, by mail or online.
Voters who apply online must provide the following: their full name; mailing address; a Michigan driver’s license, an ID number or a statement that they don’t have a Michigan driver’s license or ID; date of birth; last four digits of their Social Security number; eye color; and an uploaded signature or authorization to use their stored digital signature on file with the Secretary of State’s office.
Subscribers: Michigan absentee voting begins this week. Clerks urge voters to return ballots quickly
When applying by mail, voters must provide their full name, year of birth, address and/or mailing address and a signature of record, which can be the one on their driver’s license or state ID or on a previous voter registration application.
When applying by mail or at a clerk’s office, voters can print ballot applications from the Michigan Department of State website or pick one up at a local clerk’s office. Applications mailed to a voter from their local clerk will include a pre-paid return envelope.
When ballots are sent out
Absentee ballots will be mailed out to applicants and those on the permanent absentee ballot list starting Thursday, Sept. 26. They are available 40 days before every election in Michigan. People who apply later for such a ballot get one mailed to them.
The deadline to apply to receive a ballot by mail is Nov. 1, the Friday before Election Day. But clerks discourage waiting this late to obtain an absentee ballot because of concerns about the speed of the delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service.
When ballots are due
Mailed absentee ballots from all voters, except military and overseas voters, must be received by the voter’s local clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day or they will not be counted. Clerks are urging voters to mail an absentee ballot at least two weeks before Election Day to avoid potential mailing delays. Military and overseas voter absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received within six days after the election to be counted. Absentee ballots also can be returned in person to the clerk’s office or a drop box by 8 p.m. Election Day.
Tracking applications and ballots
Voters can track the mailing and receipt of their absentee ballot application and of their ballot at Michigan.gov/Vote. Voters can also contact their local clerk’s office with questions about their application or ballot.
Tips for completing the ballot
Voters should complete their absentee ballot by following the instructions included with the ballot. Instructions may differ based on the type of election.
Voters should insert the completed ballot into the secrecy sleeve as instructed, and they need to sign and date the return envelope on the provided space. They should use their signature as shown on their driver’s license, state ID or voter registration application.
Options for those with a disability
Voters with a disability who require assistance in completing their absentee ballot application can receive help from another person, provided that the person isn’t the voter’s employer, agent of that employer or an officer or agent of a union to which the voter belongs.
Voters with disabilities can also request an accessible absentee ballot by submitting an accessible absentee ballot application online at Michigan.gov/Vote. They can also download an accessible application to vote absentee and submit it to their local clerk’s office by mail, email or in person. Or they can visit their local clerk’s office to request an absentee ballot in person.
Who can return an absentee ballot
Not just the voter is legally allowed to return an individual’s absentee ballot. Others who are permitted to deliver an absentee ballot are a member of the voter’s immediate family who is asked to do so, an individual who lives in the voter’s household who is requested to do so, a mail carrier on duty or an authorized election official in the voter’s jurisdiction.
Michigan makes it a felony for anyone else to have or deliver an absentee ballot.
How to return ballots
Voters can mail their absentee ballot to their local clerk, although clerks are warning that the ballots should be mailed at least two weeks before Nov. 5 to ensure they arrive even if there are delays with the U.S. Postal Service. Voters also can return them in person to the clerk’s office or at a clerk’s drop box location by 8 p.m. Election Day.
How clerks verify signatures
The Michigan Bureau of Elections trains clerks in signature verification. The clerks review and compare the signature on each absentee ballot with the signature on the return envelope and the voter’s signature on record — which is usually the signature on a driver’s license, state identification or a voter registration application — to confirm its validity. If a clerk decided a signature is invalid, the ballot is rejected and the clerk is required to quickly notify the voter of the rejection.
What happens with returned ballots
Completed and signed absentee ballots are securely stored by local clerks in storage containers approved by the bipartisan county canvassers or election commission.
How to change an absentee vote
In most instances, absentee voters may change their vote on an absentee ballot until 5 p.m. on the second Friday before Election Day, or Oct. 25 if the ballot has not already been tabulated. If voters decide to cast their ballot in person instead of absentee, they may visit their early voting site on Election Day polling place if they haven’t already turned in their absentee ballot. They can submit their completed absentee ballot at the early voting site or Election Day polling place. Or they can “spoil” their absentee ballot and get issued a new ballot.
Getting ballots mailed continually
Michigan voters can choose to be placed on a permanent absentee ballot list, which means their clerk will automatically mail them an absentee ballot for all local, state and federal elections.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
A man who took a large quantity of LSD before allegedly sexually assaulting his friend was too dazed to legally confess to the incident when deputies questioned him about it hours later, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In a 6-1 decision in which the dissenting justice agreed that the case should be retried, the high court sent the case against Zebadiah J. Soriano, 24, back to the trial.
Soriano’s attorney argued that not only was his client high on the hallucinogenic drug when he admitted to being a rapist after being read his Miranda rights, he also was sleep-deprived, hungry and unfamiliar with law enforcement procedures.
“Voluntary intoxication does not make a Miranda waiver per se invalid,” Justice Kimberly Thomas wrote in the opinion. ” … However, the circumstances here undermined Soriano’s ability to make a knowing and intelligent waiver.”
Defense attorney Ali Nathaniel Wright called the decision “a victory for Michiganders and our right to be protected from self-incrimination.”
“The decision serves as a reminder to our lower courts and law enforcement that confessions elicited from hospitalized teenagers who cannot fully appreciate their rights because they are intoxicated and sleep deprived have no place in a court of law,” Wright said in a statement.
‘I am a rapist’
Soriano was 18 years old on the night of Nov. 20, 2020, when he used LSD with a platonic friend, identified in court documents as “AC,” at her home in Grand Traverse County. Records show that Soriano had made romantic advances toward AC in the past, which she had rebuffed.
AC allegedly took one acid tablet while Soriano has claimed that he took six.
AC later told investigators that, a short time later, Soriano disrobed, forced himself on top of her and groped her, according to court documents. When she got away from him, Soriano allegedly caught her and put his arms around her throat. The alleged victim again was able to escape from Soriano, who eventually fell down a flight of stairs and ran out of the house.
Police were called to the scene and found Soriano around two hours after the alleged assault, in a wooded area about a quarter-mile from AC’s home, court documents show. He was acting strangely and making nonsensical statements, so officers transported him to a hospital, where they read him his Miranda rights before he made the incriminating statement that lies at the heart of the case:
“I am a rapist. I am f***ed,” he allegedly told a Grand Traverse sheriff’s deputy.
Convicted of criminal sexual conduct
Soriano was charged in Grand Traverse Circuit Court with assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct involving penetration, as well as assault by strangulation, records show.
Before his trial, Soriano filed a motion seeking to suppress the damning statement he made at the hospital, arguing that because he was high on LSD, he was unable to legally waive his constitutional right to remain silent.
The court denied the motion and, in September 2021, a jury convicted Soriano on the criminal sexual conduct charge while acquitting him of assault by strangulation. He was sentenced to three years of probation, six months in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender for life, according to court records.
The suspect later filed a motion seeking a new trial, arguing that his defense failed to support his motion to suppress with expert testimony, records show.
The trial court denied the motion and, in May 2024, an appeals court affirmed Soriano’s conviction in a 2-1 decision, opining that any alleged errors were harmless and unsupported.
“AC’s testimony, particularly when corroborated by other witness testimony, makes it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found defendant guilty absent any potential error in the admission of his statements made while in the hospital,” the Appeals Court judges wrote.
In September 2025, Soriano appealed the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. Wright wrote in a brief that two hours after Soriano had been interrogated, a deputy told his parents that he was “too out of it” to speak to them.
“If Zebadiah was not sober enough to hold a basic conversation with his parents two hours after his interrogation, then he was not sober enough to knowingly and intelligently waive his constitutional rights or give a voluntary confession,” Wright wrote. “The State should not be permitted to reap the benefits of (the deputy’s) exploitation of a vulnerable teenager.”
Too high to confess?
In a decision filed Tuesday, the Michigan Supreme sided with the defense.
Thomas, writing for the 6-1 majority in a 24-page opinion, said Soriano did not fully understand the rights he was giving up when he told law enforcement that he was a rapist.
“The short period of time between defendant’s erratic behaviors and being advised of his Miranda rights supports the conclusion that defendant was not able to understand his rights at the time of waiver,” Thomas wrote.
The high court also rejected the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that other evidence made the error harmless, determining that Soriano’s hospital statement was an important part of the prosecution’s effort to prove his intent.
“Given the other evidence concerning defendant’s intent, the average jury would have found the prosecution’s case significantly less persuasive without the erroneously admitted statement,” Thomas wrote.
The dissenting justice, Richard Bernstein, disagreed with his colleagues about the legal reason Soriano’s waiver was invalid, but agreed a new trial was warranted.
The ruling reverses the Appeals Court decision, vacates Soriano’s conviction and sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
In Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, religious leaders from many faiths gathered Tuesday to speak against what they described as efforts to intimidate and disenfranchise Michigan voters.
Speaking on the steps of the state Capitol building, Rev. Michael Young criticized the Trump administration’s actions leading up to this year’s midterm elections.
“We’re alarmed at the federal government’s attempts to interfere with election administration, efforts that suppress the vote, intimidate voters, limit access to the ballot box and shut eligible voters out of the process,” Young said.
The pastors are especially concerned about the U.S. Justice Department’s plans to send election observers to three Michigan cities to monitor the August primary.
Published reports indicate the monitors would be sent to Detroit, Lansing and East Lansing, communities with traditionally large Democratic voter turnout.
“Sending federal election observers to Michigan; they are not coming to protect the vote,” said Rev. Rudra Dundzila of Brighton. “They are coming to intimidate the voters and disrupt the vote.”
The religious leaders are also concerned about a proposed constitutional amendment that may appear on the November ballot in Michigan. The proposed amendment would require citizenship verification to vote in Michigan elections.
Abdul El-Sayed is leading in the polls ahead of Michigan’s Aug. 4 Senate primary. If he wins the nomination, Democrats will learn fast whether his politics can win a battleground state.
Senate hopeful Haley Stevens booed during Democratic convention
Representative Haley Stevens was met with boos while giving a speech at the Michigan Democratic Endorsement Convention in Detroit on Sunday, April 19.
In 2025, Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic U.S. senator from Michigan, observed the following about her political party: “We’re like a solar system with no sun. We don’t act as a team, and when we don’t work as a team, we turn our guns on each other, and it’s so, so, so, fruitless.”
Fast-forward to now, and the Democratic Party seems to be moving in a distinct direction: far left. Like, socialist left.
From New York to Colorado, newcomer democratic socialists have unseated sitting members of Congress.
But these victories, so far, have come in solidly leftist strongholds. What I’m watching closely is whether a far-left progressive can win in my state of Michigan, a battleground state that helped elect President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2024.
The Democratic Senate primary here is Aug. 4, and it’s caught the attention of the country because control of the Senate could be decided in the Great Lakes State. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters isn’t running for reelection, giving Republicans a chance to win the seat back.
Democrats must flip four seats to take control of the chamber, and holding Michigan is essential to that math.
To the chagrin of more “moderate” Democrats, candidate Abdul El-Sayed – a former public health official who’s the darling of democratic socialists like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – has done remarkably well in the polls, and he’s maintained a lead over more traditional opponents U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
McMorrow suspended her campaign on July 5, first reported by The Detroit News, after weak polling numbers and likely pressure from Democratic Party insiders.
If El-Sayed pulls off a primary win, it could signal which sun the Democratic Party is heading toward.
What works in the primary may not play as well in the general
But El-Sayed may face bigger challenges if he makes it to the November election.
He’ll face off against Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who narrowly lost his 2024 Senate bid to Slotkin.
Michigan hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in more than 30 years. Yet while Slotkin is a Democrat through and through, she’s adept at appealing to independents and moderates.
That’s not true of El-Sayed, who has palled around with self-identified Marxist streamer Hasan Piker on the campaign trail, in addition to Sanders.
“El-Sayed joins the list of radical leftists running nationally that will also cause consternation amongst mainstream Democrats,” former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis told me. “Slotkin has already raised the alarm bells and that probably indicates she’s hearing from her constituency, and El-Sayed will need them as well.”
Michigan could determine whether Republicans hold their Senate majority – and it’s the GOP’s best shot at flipping a seat outright.
El-Sayed may be able to rally more radical progressives and the anti-Israel base in the primary, but that message will be a tougher sell to Michigan voters as a whole. As Anuzis put it, El-Sayed’s strength in the primary is his weakness in the general.
“If he wins, then more mainstream Democrats, Reagan/Trump Democrats and culturally conservative, working-class independents will have to make a choice,” he said. “I think that greatly helps Rogers.”
Democratic leadership is shying away from El-Sayed. Will it matter?
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has openly backed Stevens, the sitting congresswoman, in the race. He and other Democrats clearly think she’s best suited to take on Rogers in November. Along those lines, ahead of McMorrow dropping out of the race, retiring Sen. Peters told associates that Democrats need to back one of the more mainstream candidates to oppose El-Sayed, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Still, El-Sayed has landed a coveted Michigan endorsement: that of the powerful United Auto Workers union, which praised the candidate for pushing forward “a strong working-class agenda with moral clarity.”
And while some believe that McMorrow exiting the race will boost Stevens, that’s far from a certainty. McMorrow notably did not throw her support behind one of the other contenders and her name will remain on the primary ballot.
Following Zohran Mamdani’s successful bid in 2025 for mayor of New York City, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he didn’t think the democratic socialist represented the future of the Democratic Party.
With several more socialists recently winning seats in Congress, that looks a lot less certain.
Whether El-Sayed prevails in the primary, and then wins over Michigan voters in November, will be the biggest test yet of how far left Democrats are willing to go.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques
-
Utah39 seconds agoPlanned 60-foot long Liberty Arch in Utah sparks patriotism, but also concerns
-
Vermont8 minutes agoVermont offers money to replace diesel vehicles with electric
-
Virginia10 minutes agoVirginia reports 10 cases of cyclosporiasis
-
Washington16 minutes agoWashington law says to alert the public when doctors are accused of misconduct. It can take months
-
Wisconsin23 minutes agoFormer Wisconsin judge to be sentenced after conviction in obstructing arrest of Mexican immigrant
-
West Virginia25 minutes agoWest Virginia town’s entire police force fired after ex-sergeant claims evidence room was broken into
-
Wyoming31 minutes agoWyoming coal company wins federal money to extract critical minerals from Powder River Basin – WyoFile
-
Crypto38 minutes agoResidents question proposed crypto mining center
