News about the process after the votes are cast – from our friends at www.PromoteTheVoteMI.com

Election Day for the August Primary is officially behind us! Over the past few weeks, the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline received about 250 calls from Michigan, with about half of these calls coming from Detroit. We plan to carefully analyze all the calls in the coming days, but a preliminary survey shows that while many of these calls were questions about registration and voting, about half of them were reported issues–inaccessible polling places, aggressive campaigners, and poll workers turning voters away. Our boiler room was able to resolve many–but not all–of these issues in the lead up to and on Election Day. We will continue to work with voting rights advocates, clerks, and MDOS to resolve the remaining issues and to ensure that the November General Election is as accessible and secure as possible.

While Election Day may be over, it’s not too late to fix any absentee ballot signature issues. Michigan voters now have a right to be immediately notified if their ballot is rejected because of a signature issue and to be given the opportunity to correct–or cure–the issue until 5 p.m. on Friday (August 9).The notice must come from the voter’s city or township clerk by phone, email, or text (or by U.S. mail if the clerk doesn’t have the voter’s other contact information), and it must tell the voter the reason that their signature was rejected, how to fix the issue, and the deadline for fixing the issue. So if you get a call, text, or email from your clerk–don’t ignore it! It may include important steps you need to take to ensure your vote counts.

Unofficial results from the August Primary are available here. Next stop: county canvass and certification! See below for more details.

Onward!

P.S. We encourage you to check out this CBS News interview with Dessa Cosma, PTV board member and executive director of Detroit Disability Power (DDP). Dessa discusses DDP’s accessibility audits of polling places across Metro Detroit and how election officials can improve polling place accessibility.

ELECTION PROTECTION: CANVASS & CERTIFICATION

• Boards of County Canvassers in each of Michigan’s 83 counties must start the canvass process no later than today (Thursday) at 9 a.m. County canvasses must conclude and the results must be certified no later than August 20. For more details on this process, check out our one-pager or MichiganVoting.org. You can also check out How Election Results Become Official: From Election Day to Certification, our informational webinar which covers what a Board of Canvassers is, what happens at a county canvass, what happens if a County Board doesn’t certify, and more. The webinar features Oakland County elections director Joe Rozell, Newaygo County canvasser Dallas Dean, and Ottawa County canvasser Laurie Breuker.
• Please sign up to help monitor the canvass and certification process! The League of Women Voters of Michigan is currently monitoring the canvass and certification process in counties across the state, but they still need additional volunteers to ensure adequate coverage. If you’re available, please sign up for a shift ASAP using this link. (If you sign up for a shift, the LWV requires you to attend a training and submit a shift report. Click on the attachment link on the Sign Up page for details.) If you have any questions, please contact Sara Weertz at saraweertz.lwvmi@gmail.com.

ELECTION PROTECTION: NOVEMBER 5 GENERAL ELECTION

• It’s hard to believe, but absentee ballots for the November 5 General Election will be available in 50 (!) days. If you’re planning to vote from home in November, and you have not already signed up for the Permanent Mail Ballot List, we encourage you to request your ballot today.
• More key dates for the November 5 General Election are here.