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May 19, 2020
Dear Colleagues:
As you know, today we announced that all registered voters in Michigan are receiving an application to vote-by-mail in the August and November elections.
Due in great deal to the dedication of our clerks, our May 5 local elections were an overwhelming success and an endorsement of citizens’ right to vote-by-mail. Every registered voter received an application to vote by mail and 99% of participating voters cast ballots via the mail or dropbox. In light of this success, many of you subsequently reached out to inquire if your jurisdictions could send AV applications to your voters, or to express your intent to do so, for the August Primary and November General Election.
As BOE stated last week, we support this idea and continue to encourage all of you to mail an AV application to registered voters in your community, in consultation with your legal counsel. We know it is best when voter information comes from you, a trusted voice in your community.
We also know that not every jurisdiction, for various reasons, will choose to send voters an AV application. However, we also have a responsibility at the state level to ensure that all voters have equal access to their right to vote by mail.
That said, we encourage you to mail an AV application to registered voters in your community. If you let us know of your intent to do so by the end of this week (COB on Friday, May 22) we will, if possible, exclude your community from our statewide mailing and reimburse you, with available CARES funding, for any costs you incur up to the amount the state would have spent mailing AV applications to your jurisdiction. BOE can provide you with that exact amount for your community. Please note that this does not apply to those AV applications you are required to send to registered voters on the permanent AV application list, as those costs are not reimbursable with federal CARES funding. No matter what, you should send applications to your voters on the permanent AV application list.
Some of you have asked if this mailing indicates our August and November statewide elections will be conducted entirely by mail. At this point, there are no plans to eliminate precinct-based voting this year. This AV application mailing, in addition to the work BOE is doing with vendors to improve ballot envelopes, is meant to ensure citizens know equally and with certainty how to exercise their right to vote by mail. We will also be keeping an eye on evolving health and safety requirements and guidelines at the state and federal level and will work with you to support the health and safety of you and your teams.
Please know I am grateful for all that you do every day to ensure our elections are accessible and secure. As I’ve worked with many of you thus far in my tenure I am continually impressed and inspired by your dedication and commitment to our collective efforts to protect democracy. We are all in this together, and I hope we can continue to improve our relations and build on our partnership in the months ahead.
Please continue to call me on my cell phone anytime you need to: (517) 331-0984.
Warmly,
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