DETROIT (WXYZ) — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said more than 250,000 Michiganders cast an early vote for the November general election over the weekend.
In a press conference on Monday morning, Benson said the amount has "far exceeded" expectations of state and local election officials.
This past weekend was the first weekend of early voting across the state. Three municipalities: Detroit, East Lansing and Canton Township offered early voting in the days before the election.
"While we were surprised by the large turnouts, it was a pleasant surprise. Clerks were well-prepared, the processes and systems they had in place ran smoothly and overall, Michigan’s first day of voting in the general election was a huge success," Benson said.
Watch her entire press conference in the video below
This is the first year that the state has offered in-person early voting after Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 in 2022. Under the proposal, Michigan communities must offer at least nine consecutive days of early voting leading up to the election for at least eight hours per day. In Michigan, early voting fruns from Oct. 26 through Nov. 3.
Benson thanked local clerks for their work, and the poll workers who are at early voting sites, calling them the "MVPs of democracy."
In all, 250,420 people cast early votes on Saturday and Sunday, according to the state's dashboard. Including the other days in other municipalities, 263,634 early votes have been cast for the November election as of Monday.
Compare that to the presidential primary earlier this year where a total of around 79,000 people early-voted and the August primary where around 73,000 people cast an early vote.
"I was able to visit some of these sites and was really inspired to see so many excited voters," Benson said.
When it comes to absentee ballots, Benson said more than 1.5 million ballots have been returned statewide and 2.345 million have been requested.
In all, 24% of active registered voters in Michigan have already cast their ballot.
Oakland and Washtenaw counties are leading the state in early votes. 27.5% of active voters in Oakland County have already cast a vote and 29.7% in Washtenaw County.
Starting Monday, clerks could also begin pre-processing absentee ballots that were mailed or dropped off. What that means is that the ballots will be run through the tabulators, but results will not be generated or visible until after polls close on election night.
