5/19/2020 News Update - August AV Ballot Application Mailing, Presidential Primary Reimbursement Reminder and Risk-Limiting Audit Pilot

May 19, 2020

August Absent Voter Ballot Application Mailing

The Secretary of State is mailing absent voter ballot applications in advance of the August Election to registered voters in the state. The state will not send absent voter ballot applications to voters on local permanent absent voter ballot application lists, understanding that clerks are already sending applications to these voters. Additionally, we are aware that several clerks plan to send absent voter ballot applications to all of their registered voters for August and so the state will not send to those individuals either.

As indicated in last week’s Newsletter, clerks should consult with their own legal counsel before sending applications, but the Bureau’s view is that local and county clerks are not prohibited from sending applications to all registered voters. The Bureau is mindful of two court cases, Taylor v Currie, 277 Mich App 85, 97 (2007), and Fleming v Macomb County Clerk, 2008 WL 2553266 (Ct App Mich June 26, 2008, unpublished), that prohibited a city and county clerk, respectively, from sending absent voter ballot applications to specific subsets of their voters. Significantly, those cases were decided before Michigan’s Constitution was amended and under circumstances different from the present, so they are distinguishable from a current city- or countywide AV application mailings in several respects. Clerks who plan to send applications to all voters should inform the Bureau of Elections, and we will work to reduce duplication of effort between local, county, and state mailings.

Because voters can begin applying for AV ballots on Thursday, May 21, and mindful of postal delays in some areas, the state is sending the mailing at this time to supplement local efforts to encourage as many voters as possible to apply for and cast ballots by mail in the August election. All applications sent by the state will be dual August/November applications with voter information pre-printed on the application (including QVF barcode) and will include a cover letter and instructions for returning ballots by mail, e-mail, or in-person.  Examples will be posted in eLearning later this week.

Risk Limiting Audit Pilot

Monday morning the Bureau of Elections and county and local clerks kicked off the March 10 Presidential Primary risk-limiting audit pilot. We determined the 20-digit random number that starts the random selection process by rolling 20 10-sided dice and recording the result. You may view this video of the process here, and we will post the video in eLearning later this week.  We also used the ARLO tool to randomly select the ballots to be retrieved. Counties have received an email with the information. Local clerks should watch for an email from your county to let you know whether a ballot in your jurisdiction has been selected.

Table of Contents

• August Absent Voter Ballot Application Mailing
• Presidential Primary Reimbursement Reminder
• Risk-Limiting Audit Pilot

Presidential Primary Reimbursement Reminder

As of yesterday, only 58 counties and 761 local jurisdictions had submitted their presidential primary reimbursement form.  In order to be reimbursed, we must receive your online claim form by June 8, 2020.

The county and city/township claim forms are available in eLearning. We have provided reimbursement guidelines and worksheets for county and local clerks to help you calculate totals for each expense type. We recommend that you print the worksheet first and then use those section totals for entry into the online form. You must type your information in the claim form in one session. There is no ability to save and edit the form later. If you need to make corrections to a submitted form, you will need to complete a new form and check the “Changes to a Previous Claim” box in the County Information section.

All claimed expenses must be attributable to the March 10, 2020 presidential primary. Additional expenses attributable to any local question can’t be claimed – for example, the cost of the local proposal-only ballot.