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September 20, 2024
Both federal law and the Michigan Constitution require that, no later than 45 days before the election, clerks transmit ballots to military and overseas (MOVE) voters who have applied for ballots. The deadline to transmit ballots for the Nov. 5, 2024, General Election is Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. This deadline always falls on a Saturday and requires strict compliance, meaning that, unlike other deadlines in the election law, the Saturday MOVE deadline does not get bumped back to Monday. You must transmit ballots by Saturday. BOE staff will be available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 21, to assist clerks with questions about using the QVF to issue MOVE ballots.
For more detailed information, please refer to the Sept. 5, 2024 News Update.
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Under the Michigan Constitution, AV ballots must be available to all voters who have requested them by the 40th day prior to the election, which is Thurs., Sept. 26. Beginning that day, clerks should be issuing ballots over the counter to any voters who request AV ballots in person and as of that day, clerks should mail ballots to voters who requested a ballot by mail. For issuing and mailing ballots to voters on the permanent ballot list, please review the Quick Guide: Issuing Ballots to Voters on the Permanent Ballot List with Mass Ballot available in eLearning.
BOE strongly recommends that clerks conduct preliminary testing of voting equipment before mailing out the bulk of your ballots.
BOE understands that sometimes jurisdictions do not have ballots by the 40th day for reasons beyond their control, such as the need to reprint ballots or litigation. If you do not have ballots by Thursday, you should post a notice in your office, on your webpage, and through social media accounts if you have them. The notice should indicate the date ballots will be available if that date has been provided to you. Additionally, you should prepare for processing and issuing ballots as soon as you receive them.
For the November 2024 General Election, all communities are allowed to authorize an AV counting board (AVCB) to process and tabulate absent voter (AV) ballots on the Monday before Election Day. Cities and townships with a population of at least 5,000, and cities and townships with a combined AVCB, may process and tabulate AV ballots on any of the 8 days before Election Day. Processing and tabulating AV ballots is separate from tabulation of ballots at an early voting site and replaces any AV ballot “preprocessing” previously established in Michigan election law. (refer to MCL 168.765a)
The deadline to notify the Secretary of State that a jurisdiction intends to participate in early tabulation of absent voter ballots is Tues., Oct. 8. Please use this November 2024 Absent Voter Ballot Early Tabulation Declaration Form, available in eLearning, to send the notice. No later than Friday, Oct. 18, clerks who are participating in early tabulation must post, on their municipal website and in their office, the dates and hours, location, and number of election inspectors who will be participating in processing and tabulation.
For more guidance on processing and tabulating AV ballots before Election Day, refer to the “Early AV Processing Guide” in eLearning, and tune into the Training Tidbit session on Tues., Sept. 24, at 11:30 a.m. on absent voter counting boards and early AV processing.
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Preliminary equipment testing for the November election should begin soon after you receive ballots. Local election commissions are responsible for conducting accuracy tests in accordance with the procedures established by the Secretary of State. (MCL 168.794a(3), 798.)
During the testing process BOE also recommends:
• Verifying all equipment tamper-evident seal numbers with the seal numbers on file
Test decks marked by a printer: If a test deck includes ballots marked by a printer and those ballots did not come from the stock that will be used on Election Day, at least three should be replaced with hand-marked Election Day ballots. This ensures testing of both the program and Election Day ballots.
Documenting the process: Remember, testing materials must be kept under seal and the seal numbers must be recorded. Use the Tabulator Program & Security Certification form and the VAT Testing & Security Certification form to properly document this process. We have discovered at post-election audits that these forms are sometimes misplaced. Promulgated rules require this form to be sealed into the testing container, and BOE recommends keeping an additional copy on file in the office.
The public accuracy test for early voting equipment must be conducted by a quorum of the election commission no later than Monday, Oct. 21. The Bureau recommends testing your Election Day equipment at the same time. The meeting must be posted at least 48 hours before the test (MCL 168.798) and held in accordance with the Open Meetings Act.
Important notice to jurisdictions using third party vendors for testing: If you are using the same vendor that programmed the county’s memory devices to prepare the test deck and/or conduct the preliminary testing, the election commission must also complete the Election Commission Certification Form at the public test. Designating a single vendor to create and then test the performance of memory cards they programmed, without the involvement of the election commission, removes critical checks and balances from the logic and accuracy testing process. The integrity of the testing process may come into question if one party is responsible for both developing and testing the accuracy of the program. Note: A vendor is not an authorized assistant within the meaning of the election law or corresponding administrative rules.
We have a couple of upcoming events to help you prepare for the upcoming November General Election. Please register in eLearning if you are interested in attending.
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BOE is continuing to feature a series of videos, events, links, and articles designed to increase familiarity with general accessibility requirements and best practices.
As election officials, it is critical that we support all individuals’ right to vote and provide the necessary resources to help voters feel more engaged and confident.
We believe that this series is educational and helps us all continue to ensure that everyone can vote privately and independently whether they vote at a polling place or at home. We encourage you to review the previous accessibility spotlights and use these videos in your trainings.
In our newest installment, we are featuring voter assist terminals (VATs) that must be available to all voters, especially those needing special accommodations for hearing, visual, physical and other disabilities. VATs provide voters the opportunity to independently vote a ballot in complete privacy. This terminal marks the voter's selections on paper that becomes their ballot. Voters can select their choices using a touchscreen. A personal adaptive may also be used to assist voters in making their selections.
Clerks are required to set up and test the VAT for use during in-person absentee voting in the clerk’s office, early voting, and on Election Day. It is important for clerks and poll workers to understand the voting process on VATs. Please review the videos available on YouTube associated with your vendor’s VAT and how the voting process works: Dominion, Hart and ES&S.
If you have any questions regarding VATs or other ADA issues, our Ombudsperson for Accessible Elections can assist and can be reached at ADAVoting@Michigan.gov.
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The Michigan Department of State (MDOS) is continuing its rollout of the Poll Worker Alert System tool, which was piloted during the August Primary Election. This optional tool allows poll workers to send an alert to the MDOS Command Center during an election via a survey form accessible by QR Code. Use of this tool is optional and available for any jurisdiction that wants to opt in.
Based on feedback we received from test jurisdictions during the pilot, we streamlined the text and menus in the survey form. Other features requested will be considered for future development.
If you have questions or would like to opt -in to use the tool in your jurisdiction, please email Elections@Michigan.gov with the subject line: Poll Worker Alert System Tool.
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Beginning in September, the BOE Training Team will be hosting weekly virtual training sessions called “Training Tidbits.” These 30-minute sessions with Q&A will cover focused election process topics with key reminders in preparation for the November Election. The remaining sessions will take place on the following schedule and cover the following topics (from 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. on the listed day):
With the November General Election fast approaching, Oct. 7 is the due date to complete all of the following:
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Publish in the newspaper a notice of days and hours for voter registration at the clerk’s office.
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Post and enter into QVF the hours the clerk’s office will be open on the Saturday or Sunday (or both) immediately before Election Day to issue and receive AV ballots.
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Post and enter into QVF any additional locations and hours the clerk will be available to issue and receive AV ballots, if applicable.
Additionally, clerks coordinating an early voting region (for either single-municipality, municipal, or county agreements) should enter the locations, days, and hours for early voting sites as soon as possible, but no later than Oct. 7. (This date is not in statute, but clerks are required to ensure that BOE has the information necessary to include the locations, days, and hours of operation for each early voting site on its website.) This information should be entered into the EV Site Management module.
Note: For jurisdictions where the early voting site coordinator has not added information for the November election, the early voting information from August (number of days – dates adjusted to October/November), hours, locations) is prepopulated in QVF and is currently displaying at Michigan.gov/Vote. If this information needs to be updated, please add updates to QVF as soon as possible.
If you are an EV site coordinator and have not yet responded to the November Early Voting Planning Survey that was emailed on Sept. 10, please do so as soon as possible, but no later than Friday, Sept. 27.
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Beginning of period during which clerk must make reasonable effort to verify or reject AV ballot application or AV ballot return envelope by the end of the business day after the application or envelope is received.
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County clerk must provide each municipal clerk or early voting site coordinator with programming for electronic voting equipment to be used at the early voting site.
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Deadline for clerks to electronically transmit or mail (as requested) an absent voter ballot to each absent UOCAVA (uniformed services or overseas) voter who applied for an absent voter ballot 45 days or more before the election (MOVE deadline).
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Deadline for county clerks to deliver absent voter ballots for the November General Election to local clerks.
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Notice of polling place or early voting site must be provided for sites newly established or changed by 60 days before Election Day.
- Absent voter ballots must be available for issuance to voters.
A new EPB Training Database curriculum has been posted to the eLearning Center to support the hands-on training of election inspectors. Please note that this version of the database is not as robust as prior versions. This training resource does not include as many fictitious voter records or the predetermined scenarios and documents that were once provided. Functional changes of note in this EPB training database include:
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Counting affidavit of no photo identification
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Recording voter tabulated AV ballots
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New messaging for voters who returned a ballot envelope with a signature deficiency
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New messaging for voters who returned an AV ballot
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The Michigan Secure Election Experience is a set of materials designed to assist clerks with educating their constituents on how people, technology, and cross-checks keep our elections secure. Each county has been sent a set of medium-sized step posters with built-in stands along with a few samples of the two pocket guides, for any clerk to borrow for events.
To order these materials (at no cost to you) for your jurisdiction, please work with your county. There is a link on the supply order form in eLearning (which is available to counties and several larger cities) to a Secure Election Experience order form. The following materials are available:
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Overview/Step Posters (11 poster set)
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Journey of a Vote Poster – OPTIONAL – (single poster)
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Brochure pocket guide
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Booklet pocket guide
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All orders must be placed by Sept. 25, 2024. We will make the materials available for order again at the beginning of 2025. Please email Dave Tarrant (Tarrantd2@michigan.gov) if you have any questions.
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The Bureau of Elections News Update will always be sent to the Clerk and Deputy Clerk email accounts. If other election administrators would like to receive this newsletter as well use the Subscribe link below to have it sent directly to another email account.
It is recommended that you add misos@govsubscriptions.michigan.gov and MISOS@public.govdelivery.com to your safe senders list.
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