Your candidate's no longer in the race? Deadline to spoil absentee ballots coming fast

Let's say for the sake of argument that you're an absentee voter and have already sent in your ballot for Michigan's Feb. 27 presidential primary. What's more, let's say you voted for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, you've since found out, is actually no longer running for president.

Is there anything you can do? There is.

According to the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, a voter who wants to change his or her choice can cancel — or spoil, in the correct terminology — his or her absentee ballot and receive a new one. There is only one caveat and it's an important one:

It has to be done by 5 p.m., Feb. 16. Which, in case you're not looking at your calendar at this moment, is Friday.

Otherwise, that vote's going to stand in the primary election and it's worth noting that a not-miniscule number of candidates who were in the running when the Secretary of State's Office finalized the Democratic and Republican primary ballots no longer are.

For instance, if you requested a Democratic ballot, Marianne Williamson is still listed as a candidate but left the race about a week ago. And on the Republican ballot, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy and DeSantis have all left the presidential race, despite still being listed.

So if you've already sent in your absentee ballot for one of them — or anyone else — and want to change, contact or visit your local clerk's office, tell them you want to spoil your ballot and get a new one. If you don't know how to contact your clerk, go to Michigan.gov/Vote and use the drop-down tab under "Your Clerk" on the left side to punch in your address and get that information.

By the way, if you don't want to change your vote for a candidate who is no longer running or you're taking advantage of the opportunity to vote early in person, then your vote will be tabulated for whomever it is you selected, period.

Various rules for the two major parties determine how and when those votes lead to the election of certain numbers of delegates to the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions next summer — only those reaching a certain threshold get any delegates at all. State law requires a delegate to vote for the candidate he or she is committed to unless that presidential candidate withdraws. In that case, the delegate is uncommitted, though he or she may wind up with whomever that former candidate endorses.

Contact Todd Spangler at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Deadline for changing absentee ballots for Feb. 27 primary coming fast