If a voter wishes to spoil an AV ballot that they have received and be issued a new AV ballot, they may do so by submitting a written and signed request.
If the voter has already voted and returned their first AV ballot to the clerk, the deadline for spoiling that ballot is the second Friday before Election Day by 5 p.m. (July 24). At that point the voter may receive a new ballot either in the mail or in-person in the clerk’s office.
If the voter has not yet returned their AV ballot, they may spoil that ballot and receive a new ballot in the mail up to the Friday immediately before Election Day (July 31) by 5 p.m., or in-person in their local clerk’s office up to the Monday immediately before Election Day (August 3) by 4 p.m.
Clerks can provide the “Request to Spoil AV Ballot” form in eLearning to voters for recording these written and signed requests. Please refer to Chapter 6 of the Election Official Manual for more information.
Jurisdictions that have installed AV drop boxes must provide the location to BOE so voters can find their locations at mi.gov/vote (MVIC). Please check your jurisdiction’s drop box locations in QVF and update as needed, which will automatically update mi.gov/vote. To add or update drop box locations in QVF, select Elections > Jurisdiction Hours, and then navigate to the “Drop Box Hours” tab.
For ballots that are returned as undeliverable by the post office, the ballot should be rejected as “undeliverable” in QVF.
We recommend immediately reaching out to the voter using a phone number or email address on file. If you make contact with the voter and they have an alternative address that they wish to have the ballot mailed to (perhaps they are a snowbird/college student/otherwise temporarily away), then you can mail the ballot to the new address. The voter should provide their new mailing address in writing with a signature to confirm their request to send the ballot to a different address.
If you are unable to make contact or there is no contact information for the voter, and the yellow “undeliverable” sticker indicates that the voter may have moved, then go ahead and initiate your regular voter list maintenance procedures like you do for all other returned election mail: placing the voter on Verify, sending the confirmation/cancellation notice, etc.
For more information on these processes, refer to the Absent Voter Ballot Management Guide in the eLearning center.
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Winners of the 2026 I Voted Sticker Contest will be announced to the public at the end of July/start of August. Stickers will be available for order by clerks sometime in September. Clerks should have a chance to send winning designs with absentee ballots this year.
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July 20 is the deadline for registering to vote in any manner other than in person at the local clerk’s office to be eligible to vote in the Aug. 4 Election. After July 20, and through Election Day, Secretary of State offices and state agencies that offer voter registration services will be providing customers who register with a 0-14 Day Registration - County and Agency Notice to Voter informing them that they need to take additional steps to vote in the upcoming election.
Any voter registered by mail with a registration form postmarked after July 20 must also be sent a notice. This notice is generated in QVF by clicking on the Voter Notice button. The notice prints in a format that can be folded and placed in a windowed envelope. While this notice must always be sent by mail, we strongly encourage clerks to also use any phone number or email address provided to inform the voter of the additional steps needed to vote in the upcoming election.
The Early Voting Wage Reimbursement claims are available to be submitted in the Electronic Orders & Requests (EOR) system. This opportunity is for all counties and jurisdictions that conducted early voting for the May 2026 Election. Please review the training documentation in eLearning and log in via MiLogin.
This reimbursement claim period will be closed on Monday, July 13.
Audits should be wrapping up soon. We have a handful of counties that have not entered their audits into eLearning. If you haven’t conducted/entered your audit(s), BOE will be emailing to remind you to finish the assigned audits for the May election.
ADA ramps are required when there are changes in level greater than ½ inch to ensure accessibility for those with disabilities. This applies to all governmental buildings and polling places. This week’s Accessibility Spotlight focuses on those laws and regulations regarding ramps and curb ramps. The U.S. Access Board has designed a guide that explains these guidelines in detail.
Ramps and Curb Ramps
As part of an ongoing series (this being the 2nd installment) we will be providing additional information and analysis of a different segment of your polling place’s accessibility over the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns about accessibility, please reach out to the Ombudsperson for Accessible Elections at adavoting@michigan.gov.
Tuesday, July 14
- Deadline for precinct inspectors for the election to be appointed by local election commission.
- Deadline for notice of polling place to be provided when temporary changes needed to polling place location.
Friday, July 17 - Deadline to post notice on website (if available) and in clerk's office of the location, dates, hours, and number of election inspectors for an AV counting place if processing and tabulating AV ballots before Election Day.
Friday, July 24 - Deadline for clerks processing and tabulating AV ballots before Election Day to post revised notice of location, dates, hours, or number of election inspectors if needed.
Monday, July 27 - Cities or townships with a population of at least 5,000 with an established absent voter counting board, which have provided timely notice that they will preprocess and tabulate AV ballots, may begin processing and tabulating AV ballots.
Monday, Aug. 3 - Any city or township with an established absent voter counting board, which has provided timely notice that they will preprocess and tabulate AV ballots, may begin processing and tabulating AV ballots.
For processing instructions, see the “Early Absent Voter Ballot Processing and Tabulating Guide” in the eLearning Center.
Note: City filing deadlines are controlled by the Michigan Election Law, not individual city charters.
Thursday, July 16 (by 4 p.m.)
- Deadline for district library board candidates for districts that do not include a school district to file an Affidavit of Identity and a nonpartisan nominating petition. (A $100 nonrefundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition.) Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on July 20. (Special note: If district library includes a school district, district library board candidates must file by 4 p.m. on Aug. 11.)
- Deadline for candidates without political party affiliation seeking partisan offices to file qualifying petitions and Affidavit of Identity for the November General Election. Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on July 20.
- Deadline for new political parties to file petitions to qualify for November General Election ballot.
Tuesday, July 21 (by 4 p.m.)
- Deadline for candidates for local school board and community college trustee to file an Affidavit of Identity and a nonpartisan nominating petition. (A $100 nonrefundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition.) Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on July 24.
- Deadline for city candidates who are nominated by petition to the General Election to file an Affidavit of Identity and nonpartisan nominating petition (or $100 if applicable). Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on July 24.
- Deadline for candidates for village offices to file an Affidavit of Identity and a nonpartisan nominating petition. Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on July 24.
Tuesday, July 28
- Deadline for petitions to place county or local ballot question on the November ballot to be filed with the applicable local or county clerk.
Friday, July 31
- Deadline for a recall petition to be filed for November election. (Local officials only face recall in May and November.)
Tuesday, Aug. 11 (by 4 p.m.)
- Deadline for ballot wording of local proposals qualified to appear on November ballot to be certified to local or county clerks.
- Deadline for district library board candidates (for library districts that include a school district) to file an Affidavit of Identity and a nominating petition. (A $100 nonrefundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition.) Withdrawal deadline elapses at 4 p.m. on Aug. 14. (Special note: If district library does not include a school district, district library board candidates file by 4 p.m. on July 16.)
Friday, Oct. 23 (by 4 p.m.)
- Write-in candidates' Declaration of Intent for the November General Election due to respective filing official.
August Election Training Tidbits
In preparation for the Aug. 4 Election, the BOE Training Team will be offering 30- to 45-minute lunchtime virtual sessions on specialized election administration tasks through the end of the month.
2026 board of county canvassers training
BOE will be conducting board of county canvassers training at regional training sites. These trainings are intended for county clerks, county elections personnel, county canvassers and any alternate canvassers or assistants to county canvassers. This training will cover election record review and authority of county canvassers in their duties to canvass and certify early voting, absent voter counting board and Election Day precinct results.
Early voting virtual training schedule
The BOE Training Team will also be hosting virtual training sessions to cover both updates to the Early Voting Electronic Pollbook for 2026 and reminders for general early voting procedures. Webinars will take place the week of July 13. Topics will alternate between the morning and afternoon sessions, with later options provided for election administrators that are only able to attend a session after working hours.
For more information on these events and to register visit the eLearning center events calendar. All trainings do require prior registration in the eLearning center.
MCL 168.965 is invoked when a recall election of a local clerk is called. Section 965 provides that the official with whom the recall petition was filed must appoint someone other than the clerk who is the target of the recall to perform the duties related to that election. To help clerks navigate this unique situation, we have posted a Recall Election of Clerk: Handling of Duties guide in the eLearning center.
Election inspectors for the August Election must be appointed by your election commission no later than July 14.
Remember: Election commission meetings are subject to the Open Meetings Act, and formal action must be taken to appoint election inspectors (including receiving board inspectors and AVCB inspectors).
When recruiting election inspectors, you can hire anyone registered to vote within the state as well as 16- or 17-year-olds. The first three election inspectors assigned to a board must be registered voters, but additional election inspectors may be 16- or 17-year-olds (MCL - Section 168.677 - Michigan Legislature). In addition, the inspectors can be of any state-recognized political party. Inspectors may not choose “independent.” The Election Inspector Application lists the eligible parties.
Election inspectors appointed by the election commission must have received proper election inspector certification within the last two years from a county or authorized jurisdiction.
For more information, review Chapter 14: Appointing and Training Election Inspectors in the Election Officials Manual or Recruiting, Training, and Appointing Election Inspectors in the eLearning Center.
While odd-numbered years may be quieter on the elections front, they often provide an opportunity to implement new projects and programs that are more efficient and accessible for voters and staff. This week, BOE posted its 2025 Annual Review, listing notable accomplishments from 2025, including the first-ever BOE Clerk Conference. The 2025 and 2024 annual reviews are available at the bottom of the mi.gov/elections homepage.
Updates to the Automatic Voter Preregistration and Registration process (AVP/AVR) went live successfully on May 30. As voters are registered through these processes, clerks should be seeing messages for voters automatically registered in their voter inbox.
Additionally, the BOE has started to receive opt-out letters from voters and has begun processing them; the Data and Programs team has processed 279 AVR opt outs and 58 AVP opt outs as of June 30. As these opt-outs are processed by BOE, clerks should be seeing messages in their QVF General Inbox. Clerks may also begin to see a new message in the voter inbox indicating that the letter to opt out was undeliverable to the new voter's address and the clerk's office staff should send a notice of cancellation.
For more information about AVP/AVR please see the Quick Guide: Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) in eLearning.
Preliminary equipment testing for the August 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; R 168.777.)
An updated Logic and Accuracy Test Procedure Manual has been published in the eLearning Center. Please review to ensure you are following proper testing procedures for tabulators, voter assist terminals, and ballot-on-demand printing systems. Step-by-step instructions on Public Accuracy Testing for Voter Assist Terminals are also available separately in eLearning. In addition, an eLearning playlist is available.
During the testing process, BOE also recommends:
- Verifying the date and time - time adjustment instructions are available in eLearning
- Verifying all equipment tamper-evident seal numbers match 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 Testing & Security Certification form, the VAT Testing & Security Certification form, and the Ballot on Demand (BOD) 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 Election Day equipment must be conducted by a quorum of the election commission no later than Thursday, July 30. The early voting equipment must be tested by Monday, July 20. If starting early voting before the required date, the deadline is five days before the first day of early voting. For jurisdictions conducting both tests, BOE recommends testing your Election Day equipment at the same time as your early voting equipment (by the earlier deadline). 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.
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