What To Do If You Were Planning to Vote Absentee But Now Want to Vote at the Polls

Some people originally applied to vote absentee because of the pandemic, but now want to vote in person at the polls instead. If this describes you, read on to make sure you understand how to make the pivot without any issues.

Secretary of State Spokesperson Tracy Wimmer says it should be easy for absentee voters to switch to voting in-person if they haven’t already returned their ballot.

“All you have to do in that regard is just bring your absentee ballot with you to the polling location, surrender it there, you’ll sign an affidavit that triggers the cancellation of the absentee ballot, and instead you’ll be able to vote in person,” Wimmer told WDET’s Jake Neher.

If you don’t want to wait to vote, you can even take your absentee ballot in to your local clerk’s office or a satellite voting center (if your community has them) and vote in person prior to Election Day. Check on locations and hours to do that here.

What If You Never Received Your Absentee Ballot?

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was a recent guest on WDET’s Detroit Today, and a caller joined the show saying she had applied to vote absentee, but she hadn’t received her ballot, and now wants to vote in person instead. Benson told the caller that she should be able to do that without a problem.

“Until your ballot is returned with your signature on the envelope, and confirmed as your signature, you are not considered to have voted,” Benson told her. “And so, if you show up on Election Day, all that will be noted in your file is that you requested a ballot and one was sent to you. But if you haven’t returned it and it hasn’t been validated — and you can confirm that at michigan.gov slash/vote — you will be able to vote right then and there in person at your precinct on Election Day.”

“If there’s a challenger there, there’s also the potential that their vote will be challenged.” — Sonja Buffa, Warren City Clerk 

In the eyes of Warren City Clerk Sonja Buffa, however, it’s potentially more complicated than that. Buffa says that when a person who applied to vote absentee shows up at the polls and doesn’t bring their ballot with them, poll workers will call city hall to make sure a ballot has not been received for the voter, the voter will need to complete an affidavit saying they are not in possession of their ballot. And “if there’s a challenger there, there’s also the potential that their vote will be challenged,” says Buffa.

Election challengers are people who are appointed by political parties and qualified interest groups to observe the election process. According to a Q+A put out by the Michigan Department of State, “A challenger has the right to challenge any voter issued an absentee ballot who appears at the polls to vote on election day claiming that he or she never received the absentee ballot, lost the absentee ballot or destroyed the absentee ballot.” 

If a voter is issued a challenged ballot, Buffa says that means “the ballot number is indicated on the white open space of the ballot and covered with correction tape. The ballot is placed in the machine as all other ballots.” She says as long the voter is playing by the rules, their vote will count, even if it’s challenged.

What if You Already Voted Absentee?

Michigan Secretary of State Spokesperson Jake Rollow says if a person already voted absentee but wants to vote in person, then they should contact their clerk before 10 a.m. on Monday, November 2nd, the day before the election, and ask their clerk to locate and spoil their ballot.

Otherwise, Rollow says, if the voter decides to go to the polls on Election Day they will be issued a provisional ballot because they’ve already voted. “Provisional ballots are not sent through the tabulation machine on Election Day,” Rollow explains.

The provisional ballot will only count if the voter is able to contact their clerk and get them to locate and destroy their absentee ballot before it’s counted. If the absentee ballot ends up being counted then the provisional ballot will be thrown out.

When In Doubt, Ask For Help

1-866-OUR-VOTE is a national, nonpartisan voter protection hotline that Benson recommends voters keep handy.

“If, on Election Day, you were to show up and there was some sort of snafu or any challenge to your voting, you can call that number and you’ll have attorneys on hand to walk you through what you do next. And we’re in touch with them as well so that they can call our office directly if there’s something that we need to correct or get involved with,” says Benson.