I want absentee voters to know that absentee voting — or voting by mail — is not only easy, but also safe. I would not use the postal system at this point in time. It is recommended mailing it at least two weeks before the election to be sure the post office gets it there on time.
Clerks’ offices and election workers are made up of Democrats AND Republicans. I am an election inspector and generally I work in the location where people vote in person, and there are usually an even number of both parties present; in fact I don’t recall there ever not being an equal number of both.
After all the ballots have been tabulated by the voters, and before we close and put away all the equipment, we get together and count all of the ballots at our precinct. Then we compare it to the tabulator. If the count is not correct, we start over. We check each other’s count and make sure it is correct; then we sign off on the tabulator count receipt. Everyone must sign every machine receipt, certifying that things have been done correctly.
Everything is locked in special bags: separate locked bags, envelopes, and election book for the clerk, the county, and the state. I have been doing this for five years, now. During that time, I have worked closely with the head election Inspectors who go back to the clerk’s office to turn everything in — daily now, during early voting. There is ALWAYS one person from each party who go together to do this.
At the clerk’s office, there are people tasked with receiving everything from the precincts, and accounting for all the locked bags, envelopes, and election books. They make sure all the counts are correct and accurate, and that all receipts have been signed. They ensure that nothing is missing.
There is another contingent of people to assist with the ballots that have been mailed in, dropped at the clerk’s offices, or dropped into the drop boxes. In Michigan, cities and townships with a population of 5,000 residents or more may establish an Absentee Voter Counting Board (AVCB) to process and tabulate absentee ballots during any of the eight days before an election between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Cities and townships, regardless of population, can establish an AVCB to process and tabulate absentee ballots on the Monday before an election between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The return envelope is processed by checking the signature. Then the envelope is opened and the secrecy envelope is removed with the ballot still inside. Before the ballot is removed from the secrecy envelope, the portion of the ballot at the top with the ballot number is removed. The ballot is properly removed from its inner secrecy envelope, and each ballot is folded to make it flat. The ballots are then sent through the tabulation machine.
Once every ballot has been tabulated, they are then counted by hand by members present, and correlated to the tabulator’s end count. All receipts are signed by those present. Again, everything is placed in locked bags, envelopes, and election book.
The city, township, and village clerks each sort everything out. They keep their own records. Everything that needs to go to the county/state is taken to the county clerk’s Office for processing. I could speculate that it is all repeated, but that is all it would be, speculation. My knowledge ends there.
In case there is ever any question as to where your ballot is in the process you can simply go to https://www.vote.org/ballot-tracker-tools/.
It really is safe, efficient, and secure.
Peggy L Van Sickle
Brighton
