Michigan’s election administrators are starting to feel anxious about 2024 as the “time we need to develop processes and procedures to implement all the changes continues to quickly pass by,” said Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley.
“The uncertainty about when the new Presidential Primary dates goes into effect is just one more uncertainty election administrators are facing as we prepare for 2024,” Hundley said. “We are also grappling with substantial legislative changes related to implementing Proposal 2022-2, approved by voters last November.”
Some local election officials met Wednesday with the Bureau of Elections on the status of Michigan’s 2024 presidential primary, but the hard reality is that nobody knows what to say.
It’s creating an “unnerving” situation for local clerks, who like firm rules and firm dates and don’t operate well when forced to deal with too many loose strings.
“We’re not used to this much uncertainty,” said Delta Township Clerk Mary Clark. “It’s unnerving for people like us who like to have things figured out.”
If the Legislature doesn’t pass new legislation giving a Feb. 27 primary date immediate effect, the Legislature will need to adjourn in November, at the latest, to prevent the primary from retreating to the current date in statute, which would be March 11.
Clark said she’s keeping two separate planning calendars — one for a Feb. 27 primary and a second for a March 11 primary.
The dates matter because the township must rent facilities. They need to schedule election workers. They need to make sure the first time they’re doing the mandatory nine days of early voting (per Proposal 2) everything goes smoothly.
“I get that it’s only two weeks, but that’s a lot of jostling when you’re dealing with facilities and people and testing and everything else that goes into planning an election,” she said.
Grand Rapids Clerk Joel Hondorp noted that he’d have more access to election workers in March because more snowbirds would be back from Florida and fewer college students would be away on Spring Break, for example.
Proposal 2 mandated drop boxes and security cameras to prevent fraud. Since Senate Republicans voted against the legislation that provided additional guidance to clerks, it — like the early primary date — can only take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns for the year.
That’s typically in late December, which would make the early primary date and the accompanying election law official at the end of March. That’s not going to work.
The conversation is moving up the “sine die” adjournment date to the last week in October or the first week in November so the bills can take effect by February.
If there are additional issues on the table, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer can call lawmakers back into session for November or December, but she is constitutionally responsible for setting the agenda. It’s a power that legislators aren’t all that excited about surrendering.
Still, Hondorp said there are technical questions that need answering and he’s having problems getting them answered due to the uncertainty in the air.
For example, the process of making sure a new “permanent” mail-only voter gets the proper ballot is laid out in P.A. 86, the former HB 4699. It requires clerks to reach out to all of the people on the permanent AV list 60 days before the election to make sure the correct ballot is sent to them.
How can this be done if the law isn’t in effect 60 days before the election? Hondorp asked.
P.A. 85, the former HB 4697, lays out timelines on how often a new drop box needs to be checked. Again, if the law requires drop boxes to be inspected 75 days before an election, how can this be done when the date of the election is in doubt?
“We have township halls that don’t even have toilets, but now they’re going to have drop boxes,” Hondorp quipped.
Lawmakers told MIRS Tuesday that they are aware of the timing concerns, but there is no firm decision on an early adjournment.
“We need to know the sooner the better,” Hondorp said. “With the hot temperature around elections these days, we’re supposed to just throw things together and hope it works?”
Livingston County’s Hundley said all the uncertainty does not make the jobs of clerks any easier.
“Election administrators want to do our jobs and do them well,” she said. “We want the public to have confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the election process and our results.”
Despite all that, Hundley said she is confident she and her fellow clerks will “meet the challenges we are facing.”
