What is the deadline for receiving absentee or mail-in ballots to be counted?

In Michigan, jurisdictions with at least 5,000 people can begin processing absentee ballots 8 days before Election Day. Smaller jurisdictions can start the Monday before Election Day. Counting begins at 7 am on election day. (https://ballotpedia.org/When_states_can_begin_processing_and_counting_absentee/mail-in_ballots,_2024)

How do election officials ensure that voter registration lists are updated so that people who are not authorized to vote do not vote?

All eligible citizens are registered to vote when they conduct many transactions with the Secretary of State. The process also helps maintain the voter registration list by checking to confirm the eligibility of all registered voters when they renew their IDs and driver’s licenses with the Secretary of State. Michigan is also part of the Electronic Voter Information Center (ERIC), which provides states with key federal databases and the use of sophisticated and secure data matching technology to protect the integrity of their voter files.

What kind of software/hardware is used to count the ballots? Will they also be hand counted?

Michigan uses 100% hand-marked paper ballots. These ballots are tabulated with a variety of optical scanning machines, including Dominion, ES&S and Hart InterCivic (Source:

What security measures are in place to protect the secrecy of the ballot and prevent under/over counting?

Anyone with access to absentee ballot counting must sign an oath that information related to the processing and counting will not be released in any way before the polls close. All voting machines are state-of-the-art optical scanning machines that use paper ballots scanned by electronic tabulators. Paper ballots and printed vote counts are retained and may be recounted and reviewed. Voting machines cannot be connected to the Internet during the registration of ballots. Only after the count is finished and a paper record has been generated will some jurisdictions connect the machines to the Internet to send unofficial results to the county clerk. At the same time, these jurisdictions will bring a hard copy of the paper count to the county clerk to ensure that all votes remain accurate. (Source:

When will the results become official? How long does it take?

Because only limited preprocessing of absentee ballots is currently allowed in Michigan, when large numbers of voters vote absentee ballots, the counting process can take many hours, if not days, to complete after the polls close. The results will be official when they are certified. Michigan’s local certification deadline is November 19; the state certification deadline is November 25.

How do election officials certify election results? What if they don’t certify the election results?

County boards of canvassers must meet no later than 9:00 a.m. on the Thursday following the election to count the votes and complete the process by November 19, 2024. Within 24 hours, the clerks send a certified copy of the results to the Secretary of State . The State Board of canvassers is responsible for certifying state and federal races no later than 20 days after the election on November 25, 2024. The state board must then immediately issue a certification of determination to the Secretary of State. The governor then issues a certificate of finding for the presidential election by December 11, 2024.

Under the Michigan constitution, certification is mandatory. If a county board of canvassers does not certify the election results by the 14th day after the election, state law requires them to immediately forward all records to the secretary of the State Board of Canvassers. The State Council must “meet forthwith and make the necessary determinations and certify the results not later than the twentieth day after the election”: November 25, 2024.

All costs associated with the state canvass, including necessary costs for transportation, lodging, meals, and all costs incurred by state agencies, must be borne by the non-certifying county. And the entire county board, along with the rest of the necessary county staff, must be present at all times while the state board completes the canvas. (Source: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/michigan-election-certification-processes-and-guardrails)

How do election officials ensure that an absentee or mail-in ballot is from a legitimate voter and has not been tampered with? Absentee voting is a time-tested, secure system in Michigan. Clerks verify the signatures of both absentee ballot applications and ballot envelopes with the signatures they have on file to verify the identity of each voter.

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