Michigan election officials for more than a year have raised alarms about how long it could take to count votes on Election Day with a large increase in absentee ballots. The delay played out exactly as they predicted, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says they know exactly how to fix it.
“Oh, that’s an easy one. The pre-processing,” Benson said in an interview Monday.
Absentee ballots take longer than in-person ballots to count because staff must verify the signature, remove them from the outer envelope, remove them from the secrecy sleeve and smooth them to run them through the tabulation machines.
Clerks across Michigan and the Secretary of State had asked for more time to pre-process ballots before Election Day. The legislature passed bills allowing clerks in communities with a population of over 25,000 to do some of the pre-processing the day before, but not open the inner secrecy sleeve or begin actual tabulation of ballots until Election Day.
Related: Bill letting Michigan clerks process absentee ballots a day early headed to governor
But the Bipartisan Policy Center recommends allowing pre-processing at least seven days before Election Day, Benson said. States like Ohio and Florida, which allow earlier pre-processing, had earlier results, Benson said.
“Our legislature really does need to listen to our election administrators and our clerks and give them more time to pre-process those absentee ballots so that they can be much more ready to go when it comes to tabulation on Election Day,” Benson said.
Two big factors coincided to create a big increase in absentee ballots.
First, state voters in 2018 approved a ballot proposal that allowed no-reason absentee voting, which meant anybody could do it just because they felt like it, instead of having to meet conditions like being out of town or being over a certain age.
Second, there was a coronavirus pandemic sweeping Michigan and the nation. Many Michiganders -- particularly Democrats -- chose to vote by absentee to avoid any potential exposure at in-person polling places.
Enough results were in that the Associated Press called Michigan for Democratic candidate Joe Biden at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, or 22 hours after polls had closed. That meant for a day, all eyes were on Michigan, though other states ultimately took longer to count.
Related: Joe Biden wins Michigan, flipping state in narrow victory over Trump
Mary Clark, Delta Township Clerk and 1st Vice President and CEO of the board for the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, said one day of pre-processing worked well for her community of around 33,000 residents. Staff processed 15,000 absentee ballots, and took advantage of the extra pre-processing day.
The association’s board hasn’t met since the election took place, but speaking personally, Clark said larger communities could use more time.
“I think like Grand Rapids, Flint, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, they belong in a tier different that Delta Township, in my opinion, because of the difference of volume and the difference of population,” Clark said.
In Ingham County, County Clerk Barb Byrum typically has most results in from municipal clerks night-of. The biggest city, Lansing, took until 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday to transmit results -- about seven hours later than in a typical election.
“It was later, and it was a direct result of the sheer volume of absentee ballots,” Byrum said.
In Kent County, County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons did a lot of work on the front end preparing people for results to take longer than usual.
“For weeks going into the election I’ve been telling candidates and the media and the public ‘be patient, it takes time to count your votes,’” Posthumus Lyons said.
The county had full results 36 hours after polls closed, and the main delay was in Grand Rapids, its population center with many absentee ballots to count.
She’s proud of how the election ran, but said she sees opportunities for fine-tuning the process at absentee counting boards.
Posthumus Lyons, Byrum and Benson all said they expect high absentee volume in future elections, as well.
Michigan’s process is more akin to states that we saw take even longer to count, Benson said.
“It is a heroic effort and that’s not hyperbole, what they just accomplished. It’s extraordinary. And the fact that there were states like Pennsylvania in a similar position as us that took much longer to get results in than we did, based almost entirely on their efficiency... there’s an extraordinary story here about what they did and what they accomplished in Michigan this year that’s getting lost,” Benson said.
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