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 May 6, 2025 election is Sat., March 22, 2025. 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 that Saturday. BOE will be available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sat., March 22, to assist clerks with questions about issuing MOVE ballots.   

If something occurs in your jurisdiction that prohibits you from meeting this deadline (for example, litigation delays or ballot printing), please email BOE’s Regulatory section at MDOS-BOERegulatory@Michigan.gov as soon as possible. 

Download the MOVE Compliance Report  

To avoid missing the MOVE deadline, there are many tools available in QVF – including a report that details every MOVE voter in your jurisdiction. The information in the report is populated by the information you have entered in the individual voter’s QVF profile. You can find it under the Reports tab, titled “Military and Overseas Voter Compliance Report.”  

Verify the information on the report  

Once you have located the report, ensure that every MOVE voter is properly entered into QVF. If you have a MOVE voter who does not appear on the spreadsheet, then the MOVE status in the voter’s profile needs to be updated. A voter appearing on this report is currently registered as a MOVE voter. If the voter is an overseas civilian who has returned to the U.S., you should clear their UOCAVA status. Otherwise, the voter should receive a ballot. All requests for a MOVE ballot submitted on or after Nov. 5, 2024, are valid for every election in 2025. MOVE voters are not required to submit a separate request for each election in 2025. Note that with the passage of Proposal 2022-2, all voters (including MOVE voters) may now complete a single application to be mailed an absent voter ballot for all future elections. However, MOVE voters must submit an application such as a FPCA each year to ensure MOVE protections and allow enough time for the ballot to be returned.  

What happens if the deadline is missed?  

For all timely requested ballots, if you send a MOVE ballot late, the MOVE/UOCAVA voter is provided with an extension of time equivalent to the number of days the clerk was late in delivering the ballot, so long as the ballot is postmarked by Election Day. The MOVE ballots received during the extension period shall be counted and tabulated in the final results. MCL 168.759a(16).

Also note that the Michigan Constitution provides for a six-day grace period following Election Day, during which MOVE ballots postmarked by Election Day are considered timely received.   

Update your contact information  

After the MOVE deadline, BOE staff will review this report and reach out to local clerks to troubleshoot any issues that may occur. You may also receive a call from your county clerk. Please make sure you are checking the email you provided in eLearning or update it if necessary.    

If you have any questions or run into issues, please contact us at MDOS-BOERegulatory@Michigan.gov. We are here to support you.

More than 300,000 inactive voter registrations are slated to be removed from the state’s voter rolls next month. These are registrations belonging to voters who have received a cancellation notice based on a change of residency and did not respond to the notice or engage in voter activity in the two-federal-cycle period ending in November 2024.

Michiganders can email ElectionData@Michigan.gov to request a copy of the cancellation list. Listed voters have until March 28 to review and update their registration prior to cancellation.

Additionally, there are currently about 259,000 inactive voter registrations slated for cancellation in 2027, following the November 2026 election.

More information about the state’s voter list maintenance procedures can be found at Michigan.gov/Vote.

In preparation for the May 6, 2025 election, the BOE Training Team will be offering, 30-45 minute lunchtime virtual sessions on specialized election administration tasks.

The first session, Elections 101, is a new tidbit specifically designed for new clerks that will be administering their first election in May; however, all clerks are welcome to join for a refresher.

The sessions currently planned for this round of Training Tidbits are as follows:

• Elections 101 – March 13 – 11 a.m.
• Military and Overseas Voters – March 20 – 12 p.m.
• Absent Voter Process, Part 1: Issuing AV Ballots – March 25 – 12 p.m.
• Absent Voter Process, Part 2: Receiving AV Ballots – March 27 – 12 p.m.
• Absent Voter Process, Part 3:
  • Processing AV Ballots in the Precinct – April 1 – 12 p.m.
  • Absent Voter Counting Boards – April 3 – 12 p.m.
• 0-14 Day Voter Registration – April 8 – 12 p.m.
• Election Day Procedures – April 15 – 12 p.m.
• Election Day Electronic Poll Book (EPB) – April 24 – 12 p.m.
• Absent Voter Process, Part 4: AV Processing After Election Day – April 29 – 12 p.m.

Recordings will be made available in the Elections eLearning Center following each session. Sign-ups for these sessions are available in the Elections eLearning center. Dates for the in-person election official accreditation course are still being finalized and will be announced as soon as available.

In preparation for the May 6, 2025, consolidated election, clerks should consider typical voter activity in their jurisdiction to determine the number of precincts needed for this election. The deadline for temporary precinct consolidations for the May Election is Friday, March 7. Things to remember:

• The appropriate county or local election commission must pass a resolution outlining the temporarily combined precincts
• A consolidated precinct cannot contain more than 5,000 active registered voters
• Only whole precincts may be combined
• Voters must be notified by mail if their polling location has changed
• Notice must be posted at the closed polling location and provide directions to the new polling location
• Temporary consolidations are only permissible on dates with no state/federal elections

Jurisdictions that plan to operate a combined precinct per their county’s school plan, and by action of the appropriate county or local election commission, must go to the QVF Election Geography module to create the combined precinct (and update the polling location if necessary) prior to April 7. Temporarily combining precincts in QVF is a critical step in preparing for Election Day because it ensures that the information in the Election Day e-pollbook and online at Michigan.gov/Vote is accurate.

For more information regarding the temporary consolidation of precincts, please refer to Chapter 15 of the Election Officials Manual.

Please make sure that all of your audits have been entered into eLearning by a certified auditor. Any missing information on the early voting checklists that were emailed to Elections@Michigan.gov will need to be addressed. Remember to indicate each day a specific task was completed. If a task was completed each of the nine days of early voting, it must be checked off for each of those days. If only one box is selected, it will make it appear that the jurisdiction didn’t complete the task the other eight days. Please fill out each section completely and add notes if needed. If you need to correct your checklist, please send the revised checklist to Elections@Michigan.gov and put “Revised EV Checklist” in the subject line.