Michigan’s 2022 election entered its final hours as voters and local officials prepared for Election Day.
Polls across Michigan open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m. Michigan residents can register to vote on the same day as the election at their local city or township clerk’s office. Absentee ballots that have not been returned should be dropped off at the local clerk’s office or in a designated ballot drop box.
Michigan voters will make choices in a variety of local and statewide races — including governor, attorney general, secretary of state, the state’s 13 congressional seats, and the 148 members of the Michigan Legislature. There also are three statewide ballot proposals up for vote.
Brighton resident Henry Clise said Proposal 2, which would enshrine several voting-related measures into the state constitution, is helping to drive his interest in the election. The measure would allow a nine-day early voting period, require public ballot drop boxes and set several other election-related measures into the state constitution.
“I think voting is important to get those new, fresh ideas in place,” he said.
Meanwhile, Proposal 1 would change Michigan’s term limit law, while Proposal 3 would protect reproductive rights, including abortion, in the state constitution.
Clise said he plans to vote in person Tuesday, despite a growing number of Michigan voters casting absentee ballots.
Learn more about the 2022 Election
- Michigan.gov/vote: The Michigan Voter Information Center has information on how to vote and where to vote.
- Vote411.org: Learn more about the candidates and proposals on your ballot.
- Ingham County results: For election results in Ingham County, visit the county clerk’s website
- Michigan results: For statewide election results, visit the Michigan Secretary of State website.
“It sounds corny, but it feels more real,” he said. “It’s like a full event.”
This will be the first midterm election since a 2018 voter-approved initiative made it easier to get an absentee ballot. Nearly 2 million Michigan voters had requested absentee ballots as of Nov. 1, according to the Secretary of State, up 73% from the 2018 midterm election.
Some election officials have cautioned that the increase in absentee ballots could slow the release of election results. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has said she expects results within 24 hours of polls closing.
Michigan State University junior Jenna Malinowski chose to vote absentee in her hometown of Riverview, Michigan, because she said changing her voter registration to her college town of East Lansing sounded like a hassle.
“I never looked into it, and it just sounded like a lot,” she said. “I wanted to vote for a lot of my local candidates too. I just prefer to stay in my home district.”
Malinowski requested her absentee ballot on Oct. 24, and it arrived a week later. She said her parents dropped it off for her at Riverview City Hall because she has class Tuesdays.
“It just would have been impossible for me to get there and back to vote,” she said.
Lansing native John Broughton said he’s hoping young people are motivated to come out to vote for the Democrats he’s supporting.
“They’ve got good ideas, and they’re particularly progressive and want to make things better for everybody,” Broughton said.
California transplant Micheal Geyers said this is his first time voting in a Michigan election since moving from the West Coast.
Geyers said Michigan’s social landscape is more extreme compared to neighborhoods in California. But day-to-day conversations with Michiganders are less politically charged.
“People are willing to hear you out on your opinion,” he said. “If you have differing beliefs, they’re much quicker to just be like, ‘I don’t believe that, but let’s move on to the next subject.'”