by:Joe LaFurgey
OLIVE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — During a Wednesday briefing, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer praised local clerks for getting a record number of absentee ballots counted, and at the same time, urged lawmakers to make that count easier in November.
In response to a reporter’s question about Tuesday’s primary election during a Wednesday news conference, Whitmer said, “We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, and so availing ourselves of the ability to vote from home is the safest way to make sure you can participate,”
Records show a record 1.6 million absentee ballots were cast during the primary, eclipsing the entire August 2016 primary turn out, including walk in votes, which exceeded by nearly a quarter of a million.
Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck noted, “I feel like August is our on ramp to the November election. We’re dealing with, very likely we’re dealing with, a doubling of the number of absentee ballots we received and counted yesterday.”
Michigan law mandates that the absentee ballot counting can’t begin until the day of an election.
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