Michigan Supreme Court asked to reconsider absentee ballot deadline in light of uncounted primary votes

Ken Thomas, Grand Blanc Township Trustee, casts his absentee ballot on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at the General Office in Grand Blanc Township. (Sarahbeth Maney | MLive.com)Sarahbeth Maney | MLive.com

The League of Women Voters asked the Michigan Supreme Court on Monday to reconsider an appeal to allow local clerks more time to count ballots postmarked by or on election day.

The League, which initially filed a lawsuit over absentee ballot counting rules in May, points in its Aug. 17 filing to August primary election data released by the Secretary of State, which says 6,400 absentee ballots were rejected because they were delivered after Election Day.

Christina Schlitt, the League’s president, said the new information shows how important it is to ensure all valid ballots are counted. The League is a nonpartisan political organization that supports “voter education, issue advocacy and citizen participation.”

“Voting is the bedrock of democracy and why would you hinder it in any way?” Schlitt asked. “Why would you not go the other way and make it more convenient for the voter?”

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in July that absentee ballots must be delivered to clerks’ offices by 8 p.m. on election day in order to be counted, finding that the deadline was nondiscriminatory and that it was a policy decision made after Proposal 3 was adopted by Michigan voters in November 2018. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that ruling on July 31.

Proposal 3 required sweeping changes to Michigan’s election process, including allowing for no-reason absentee voting, which, along with the coronavirus pandemic, has resulted in record numbers of absentee ballots being requested.

Schlitt said the United States Postal Service isn’t getting enough support to deliver absentee ballots to clerks’ offices on time. The USPS sent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson a letter last week stating Michigan voters must mail their ballots more than two weeks before election day to ensure their vote is counted. Michigan law allows voters to request and submit absentee ballots through election day.

“The point of the matter is we need to support our voters. We need to make voting convenient. We have made a great deal of strides in Michigan, but we need to a little bit more,” Schlitt said.

Schlitt said the USPS letter to Benson confirms Michigan’s statutory received-by deadline, combined with USPS’s delivery standards, violates the guaranteed 40-day window for voting by mail.

“The Court’s decision could help prevent the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters in the November election and ensure voting is accessible and convenient for every registered voter in Michigan in November and beyond,” Schlitt said.

Benson addressed why 10,600 absentee ballots were rejected in an Aug. 14 press conference. More than 80% of absentee ballots rejected in Michigan’s August primary election were denied because of signature verification issues or because they arrived at the clerks’ offices after election day. Benson said the majority of “disenfranchised voters in last week’s statewide primary could have easily had their votes counted with small changes in law.”

“The data demonstrates that thousands of people who cast otherwise valid votes were not able to participate in last week’s election solely because the Legislature failed to act ahead of the primary,” Benson said. “With turnout and absentee ballot numbers expected to double or even triple in November, we could be looking at tens of thousands of Michigan citizens disenfranchised if the legislature again fails to act.”

There are three pending bills Benson is calling on Michigan lawmakers to pass, two of which she said would have prevented a majority of the denied ballots, more than 8,600, from being rejected.

One bill, SB 757, would allow clerks to start processing absentee ballots before election day. The second bill, HB 5987, would allow mailed ballots to count if they are postmarked by election day, even if they arrive up to two days later. The third bill, HB 5991, requires clerks to contact voters if the signature on the absentee ballot doesn’t match the name registered with the state.

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