Grand Rapids prepares for early voting
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Registered voters across the state of Michigan will be able to vote early in the February primary.
Election Day is Feb. 27 and early voting begins Saturday. It is the first time the option is available statewide since voters approved a 2022 ballot proposal. Grand Rapids City Clerk Joel Hondorp and his team have been preparing since voters approved the change.
“This is gonna look very similar to Election Day,” Hondorp said. “Any city voter can go to any of the three sites.”
Michigan Voter Information Center
Registered Grand Rapids voters will be able to go to Saint Peter and Paul School, GRPS University or Ottawa Hills High School.
“They’re gonna come in. They’re gonna fill out an application. We’re gonna ask to see their photo ID. If they don’t have their photo ID with them, they fill out an affidavit on the back of that application form. We’ll look them up in the computer and if they’re a registered voter, we’ll issue them a ballot. They vote it and they’ll put it through a tabulator and we’ll get their little ‘I voted’ sticker,” Hondorp explained.
Another change this year allows voters the option to put their absentee ballots directly into a tabulator at an early voting location or at their precinct on election day.
“Just make sure you still have the ballot stub attached to your ballot in a secrecy sleeve when you bring it and then you can actually watch your absentee ballot go through,” Hondorp said.
Hondorp said clerks can begin tabulating absentee ballots as early as eight days before the election. No results will be shared until after the polls close on election night.
How does early voting work? It depends on your county
“Because of the volume we don’t need to use that whole time so the City of Grand Rapids is gonna start tabulating absentee ballots on the Friday before,” Hondorp said.
It is not clear how many people will participate in early voting during the first year.
“Twenty-four will give us a data set to see how we’re gonna move forward for future elections. I’ve been talking to clerks in other parts of the country to see what the flow is, and it seems to be a one third, one third, one third,” Hondorp said. “Maybe one third vote absentee, one third vote early and one third go to the precinct on election day.”
For more information on how to register or to find your voting location visit the state’s website.
Correction: A previous version of this story mislabeled GRPS University. We regret the error, which has since been corrected.
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