Lansing’s early voting pilot program sees low turnout

Just 35 voters take advantage of it in the first five days

THURSDAY, Nov. 2 — So far, Lansing’s initial efforts at implementing early voting for Tuesday’s General Election have seen an underwhelming response.

City Clerk Chris Swope said that just 35 voters have utilized the method in the five days since it started on Saturday.

“To some degree, it’s not unexpected that we would have low numbers, because there’s just not a huge interest in this election in general,” Swope said. “Early voting has had benefits, it’s just that our voters so far have not really taken advantage of it.” 

Early voting became an option after Michigan voters approved Proposal 2 last year, which requires a minimum of nine consecutive days of early voting for statewide and federal elections, beginning no later than the 2024 presidential primary.

To prepare, some jurisdictions have opted to offer a sort of trial run, including Lansing (eight days), East Lansing (five days) and Delta and Windsor townships (seven days).

“Early voting will be required in statewide and federal elections, but we wanted to get some experience before the presidential primary. We’re one of the dozen jurisdictions across the state that are piloting it for this November election,” Swope said, describing the experience thus far as a “good learning process.”

Lansing voters can vote today through 4:30 p.m. at the Election Unit offices, 2500 S. Washington Ave. Early voting will remain open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. East Lansing voters can vote at the East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, through 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The city of Lansing has five election workers working a total of 60 hours over its eight-day early voting period. The cost for this cycle will be around $6,000, Swope said.

“There are some savings that will come because we will be able to reduce the number of election day precincts,” Swope said, referring to next year. “For the presidential primary, all of our costs will be reimbursed.”

Because it’s an off-year election, it’s difficult to know how many voters might utilize early voting services when they’re widely available in 2024, he said.

“I think people have faith in our election system, but I think part of it is that there are people who like that tradition of putting their own ballot into the tabulator. Some prefer that precinct feeling of going to a place like that and doing their civic duty,” he said, adding that early voting will offer these people more flexibility in when and how they choose to vote.

The lower turnout for Tuesday’s election is also visible in Lansing’s most recent absentee ballot numbers. Voters will choose from eight candidates for four seats on the City Council and decide whether to create a commission to review and recommend changes to the city charter.

So far, Swope said, 8,354 of the 15,185 absentee ballots that were mailed have been returned, with five days to go before Tuesday’s election, for a rate of 55% In the Aug. 8 primary election, 85% voted absentee.

“In states that have three similar options to what we have, they say you should eventually get to about a third of voters using each type of method,” Swope said. “We’re going to have all three options going forward.”

However, Swope said this distribution could differ when early voting is standardized next year.

 “With the partisanship that’s happened in voting since 2020, in particular, I have a feeling that those ratios may be different based on the politics of the jurisdiction where people are voting,” he said.

Voters have until 8 on election night to get their absentee ballots recorded, with the exception of about 35 residents who are living or serving in the military overseas and only need to have their ballot postmarked by Nov. 7. Beginning in the August 2024 primary election, voters will also be able to deliver their absentee ballots to an early voting site.

For those wanting to vote the old-fashioned way, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Voters are supposed to bring picture IDs in Michigan, but if they forget or don’t have one, they can sign an affidavit to vote early or on Tuesday.