MICHIGAN (WKZO AM/FM) — Polls are now closed, but it may be a while until the final results are in for Michigan’s presidential primary.
In fact, officials with the Secretary of State’s office say the final polling numbers might take until early Wednesday afternoon due to the high number of absentee ballots this year.
Those who got in line before 8 p.m. will still be able to vote. Many local clerks’ offices have had a hectic day with long lines of residents hoping to register and get their vote counted.
Thanks to the passage of Proposal 3’s “Promote the Vote” back in 2018, Michiganders can now register to vote all the way up to election day, and anyone can obtain an absentee ballot, no reason needed.
Numbers from Monday evening showed that nearly 1 million Michiganders requested absentee ballots. Locally, Kalamazoo County Clerk Tim Snow told us Tuesday morning that they had 23,814 issued in the county and 85% of them were already back.
In a statement last week Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson stressed patience and reassured voters that just because the results may take longer, doesn’t mean there are any issues.
“It is important that all Michiganders, and in fact all Americans, know that results that come later in the evening do not suggest that errors or fraudulent activity have occurred. On the contrary, the later-than-usual results are evidence that clerks are working diligently to carry out the additional work on their plates in a way that is ethical and accurate. In other words, they are doing their jobs as all Americans would want them to.”
According to Michigan’s 2020 Presidential Primary Media Fact Sheet, “County websites will have results first. The Secretary of State elections website, Michigan.gov/Elections, is updated only when counties submit their results to the state and will not have the most up-to-date election results.”
They also remind voters that all results reported on Election Night are unofficial. The county canvass determines the official results about two weeks after the election, and then they are made official statewide a week later.
We’ll have results as the come. Local updates for Kalamazoo county can be found here. Full statewide results will start coming on Michigan’s website which will be updated here.
