Rural clerks concerned about 2024 elections requirements

BRANCH COUNTY — Michigan voters approved Proposal 2 by 60% last November to amend the Michigan Constitution to add voting rights and procedures championed by Promote the Vote Michigan, the ACLU of Michigan and the League of Women Voters of Michigan.

In rural Branch County, township clerks wonder how to implement and pay for the new requirements in an already stressed voting system.

The biggest concern is the requirement to hold nine days of early voting using the voting machine tabulators that count the vote.

"We don't have the money or the workers to do it," said Butler Township clerk Linda Hammontree. "Look all over Michigan. Where are we going to find it."

Few townships added funds in their new budgets for the nine days of extra voting.

Asked how the municipalities and 16 townships would provide the required service, Branch County Clerk Terry Kubasiak said, "I just don't know."

"That nine days include the weekend, so it's not nine working days," she said. "It's nine days before the election. It's eight hours a day."

Many Branch County townships have poor internet connections, if any, causing problems for a day of voting registration.

Because many township halls have poor facilities, "a lot of the clerks work out of their homes," Kubasiak said.

For voting, "election law still requires three inspectors at minimum and at least one from each party," Kubasiak said.

Smaller townships depend on retirees and search to find people to staff election day. Not all would work nine more days, the clerks noted.

Coldwater Township Clerk Diane Morrison pointed out that elected officials cannot work at the polls if they are on the ballot.   

Kubasiak communicated with election officials in the secretary of state's office.

"They're very aware of what the law changes are, and they're implementing them the best they can."

Because the amendment applies only to state and federal elections, and the first is next year's presidential primaries.

"It's not even top of the list," Kubasiak said.

State officials are first dealing with the new requirement of state-funded postage for absentee applications and ballots for local elections in May.

More: Proposal 2: Voting rights proposal approved in Michigan

Also, a new rule allows registered voters without a state ID to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity and vote.

"Those changes apply to every election, not just state and federal elections. Those are the ones that are trying to implement first," Kubasiak said.

One suggestion is to hold the nine days of early voting at a central location, possibly the Dearth Center in Coldwater, for all municipalities and townships — or combine several townships at four locations.

"If you start combining townships together, you could run into 20 different ballot styles to try and keep track of. I think the last election, we had more than 50 different ballot styles in November."

Kubasiak said that causes issues.

Morrison sees another issue. Clerks might need to bring the tabulators from each precinct. If townships are combined on a machine, after nine days of voting, "What do you do on Tuesday? You can't zero the machine now because that tells how people voted. And you have the other townships on the printout. How do you account for them?"

The Coldwater clerk, who hosts election training sessions for all clerks and elections workers in the county, admitted, "I'm just so frustrated. Because I'm concerned, we're about 10 months away from the actual presidential primary date, and the state hasn't even got a clue."

Subscribe: Follow the 2024 elections. Subscribe to the Daily Reporter.

Morrison wished there was a local election to test any new procedure.

"If we had one, I would do it just to practice. Because why start with a presidential primary with a big change like that."

No one knows how many will use the early nine days to vote.

Another issue with the consolidation of early voting is pay for workers. Many of the townships pay workers different rates, Kubasiak said.

Hammontree said no matter where the vote takes place, "how do you do it securely without hiring a security guard for nine days to sit there and watch?"

Those who pushed the constitutional amendment wanted to ensure that whoever wanted to vote in Michigan could do so. The initiative went forward with more than 660,000 signatures to counter another that restricted voting presented to legislators.

No plans were presented on how the new system would work, Kubasiak said.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Clerks concerned about 2024 elections requirements under proposition 2