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Clerks want more time to process absentee ballots

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LANSING, Mich. — As the primary election gets closer, the state of Michigan is trying to prevent a primary crisis of its own.

With the expected tidal wave of absentee ballots coming in, clerks across the state say the processing time will take longer.

The law changed back in 2018 making it so that anyone can get an absentee ballot for any reason. Clerks told FOX 47 News they're already seeing an increase and want time before the election to prepare the ballots to be counted.

Delta Township clerk Mary Clark walked through a room full of hundreds of absentee ballots ready to be sent out. She says the office is extremely busy, working from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and eating lunch at their desks.

"We are very, very busy. Very busy," Clark said. "Our absentee voter numbers are 65% higher than they were last election."

More ballots, mean more time will be spent on counting them.

"We'll get it done," Clark said. "We don't want to repeat Iowa, but we want to be accurate. But you're not necessarily going to get every answer at 8 p.m. because some larger districts are still going to be opening processing ballots."

There are only 34 days until the election, and work at the City of Lansing is well underway.

"We need every single minute of that 34 days," said Robin Stites, supervisor of Lansing elections. "Especially with Michigan being a battleground state, eyes will definitely be on us so clerks are definitely feeling the pressure."

Last year, Lansing had 5,000 returned absentee ballots. This year they've already sent out more than 8,700.

"We have to account with opening them up, taking them out of the envelope, verifying them before we can even get to process them and so it's going to take a lot of time and to do that in a 24-hour time period is going to be tough," Stites said.

Clerks across the state are banding together and asking the legislature to let them start the process a little early in the future.

"There will be a lot of ballots to process and there's not enough time to process those ballots before polls close, which is why we're asking for more flexibility for local clerks to start processing those ballots the day before the election so that when people are starting to expect election results after polls close we're able to provide them so we don't look like Iowa," said Barb Byrum, Ingham County clerk.

Starting early wouldn't mean counting ballots though, it would just mean prepping the ballots and opening them up so that they are ready to be counted. Currently, clerks can't start that process until 8 a.m. on Election Day and they say it will take more than 13 hours until polls close.

The bill introduced in the legislature by representative and former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson wouldn't help the upcoming March primary. If approved it could affect voting in August and November when clerks say they're expecting to see even higher numbers.

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