Presidential Primary

The following is the first in a series of articles regarding the March 10, 2020 Presidential Primary.

Process

The 2020 Presidential Primary is designated a "closed primary," just as it was in 2012 and 2016. Michigan Election Law, requires voters wishing to participate in the March 10 Election to choose a Democratic, Republican, or no-Presidential Primary (local issues only, when applicable) ballot when voting absentee or at the polls on Election Day.  While a voter must select a specific party ballot, there is no political party registration in Michigan's voter registration system. However, the voter's ballot selection will be public information for the 22 months following the election. 

Ballot Status

State law requires the Department of State to create a list of individuals “generally advocated by the national news media to be potential presidential candidates” for the Democratic and Republican parties for the presidential primary election. The Michigan Department of State released the 2020 Presidential Primary Candidate List on Friday. However, this is not the final candidate listing.

The chairs of the Michigan Democratic and Republican Parties now have until 4 p.m., Nov. 12, to add names of other candidates to the candidate list for their party. A candidate on the final list has until 4 p.m., Dec. 13, to notify the department that he or she is not a presidential candidate. The Bureau of Elections will provide the certified list of Presidential Primary candidates to election officials statewide after the Dec. 13 withdrawal deadline elapses.

Candidates not placed on the list by the department or the party chairs may collect signatures to be placed on the ballot. Voters will also have an option to vote “uncommitted” instead of a candidate for a political party.

Reimbursement

The Presidential Primary is a reimbursable election. However, it's important to note any third ballot with no Presidential Primary created by a local issue is not a reimbursable cost.

The reimbursement claim and approval process will work essentially the same as the 2016 Presidential Primary. Counties will be reimbursed for the costs they incur in producing ballots and for other costs directly related to conducting the Presidential Primary. Similarly, all cities and townships will be reimbursed for the costs they incur in administering the Presidential Primary. Review the Reimbursement Guidelines & Worksheet for a detailed list of reimbursable costs and worksheets to assist in the calculation of expenses.

Final submission will be completed in the eLearning Center following the election. By law, submissions must be received by June 8, 2020.

Continuing Education 2018/2019

Today, the 2018/2019 Continuing Education Curriculum will be assigned to those accredited before 2018. You will receive an email notification and it will be listed in your transcript box in the eLearning Center.

Click on Launch Curriculum to review the requirements. The curriculum viewer gives you a nice visual of your completion status and clearly shows which items have yet to be completed.

Updating Voting History - November Election

History for the November election should be uploaded immediately and no later than within seven days of the election.

All voting history must be entered now.

Corrections should be entered as soon as possible following the county canvass.

Updating voting history changes "verify" or "challenged" statuses to "active" and turns off the cancellation countdown where necessary. Accurate and timely entry of voting history ensures voter registration records that had been on the cancellation countdown become active and aren't cancelled after two general elections.

There are some circumstances that require you to manually add or remove a voter’s history for an election including:

• Voters added to the Unlisted tab in the ePollbook or manually added to the Precinct List, once voter registration issues have been resolved (NEW: Any voter with a DL/PID entered on to the Unlisted tab is updated automatically and doesn't need to be manually updated)

• Voters who received provisional envelope ballots: If counted.

• You must also manually remove voting history for AV voters whose ballots were received in QVF and rejected later. The most common reasons for this are a voter passing away before Election Day or a voter failing to sign the AV envelope by Election Day.

SPECIAL NOTE: If an election other than Nov. 5, 2019, was downloaded and used on Election Day, you MUST MANUALLY enter the voting history. DO NOT upload the EPB voter history file for a wrong election.

For instructions on manually recording voting history and/or making corrections, review the QVF Refresh Manual Chapter 5.

For instructions on uploading EPB Voter History into QVF or the EMP, review pages 40-41 of the Electronic Pollbook User Manual.

Post-Election Audit Precincts Selected

A full list of the precincts selected for the November post-election audits can be found at this link:

Post-Election Audit Precinct Selections November 2019

At least one jurisdiction has been selected from every county that had an election Tuesday. A few additional jurisdictions were selected to be audited by BOE.

Please note, audits conducted by BOE are indicated in the county list. These audits also appear in one full list at the beginning of the document. Audits must be completed by the end of December.

If your jurisdiction is listed:

• You will be contacted directly by a representative of your county clerk's office (or BOE for state audits) in the very near future to arrange for the audit.

• You will be asked to provide several items from the November election that will be used in conducting the audit.

• Do not delete your ePollbook (EPB) files or program from the encrypted flash drive or the EPB laptop (if applicable).

• The audits should be completed in two to three hours and will focus on the completion of several key Election Day and pre- and post-Election Day processes.

Please take some time to review the Post-Election Audit Checklist and Post-Election Audit Manual prior to your audit. The main objectives of this program are to reinforce important election-related legal and procedural requirements and to identify specific topics that may need additional focus and/or clarification via training, documentation, communication, or other support that can be provided by the Bureau of Elections.

The audit also will include a review of voted ballots with a hand tally of the last race on the ballot. The review of voted ballots will verify the equipment used to count votes worked properly and yielded the correct result.

For counties, an online course, Conducting a Post-Election Audit is available if you need a refresher on the process.

Facebook Protect

Facebook has launched a new security program, called Facebook Protect, to increase account security.

The purpose of Facebook Protect is to monitor accounts that may face additional threats during the 2020 election cycle and provide additional protections. County and local jurisdictions that enroll their accounts in Facebook Protect will gain stronger account security protections and monitor for potential hacking threats.

The Bureau of Elections recommends that jurisdictions with Facebook accounts enroll in this service.

BOE Question of the Week:

If the voter has an updated address sticker on their DL/PID, can that be used as residency verification?

Answer: Yes - an address on the voter's driver's license or personal identification card, whether printed on the DL/PID or on the address update sticker, is residency verification and results in the 0-14 day registrant receiving a regular ballot.

Have a question you'd like to see in the Question of the Week?  Send it to elections@michigan.gov.