How to vote early in Michigan: When it starts, find locations, more

Voting in Michigan this year feels like a choose-your-own adventure with absentee, early-in person and Election Day polling places all offering a different way to make your voice heard at the ballot box.

Early voting is the newest option. It was added to the menu after Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment in 2022 to create it. At early voting sites, you can fill out your ballot and place it into the tabulator just as you would at your polling place.

If you want to cross voting off your to-do list before Nov. 5 Election Day and vote early, here's how.

Make sure you're registered to vote

Before heading out to an early voting center, check to see if you're registered to vote!

Visit the state's voter information website michigan.gov/vote and click "Am I registered?" Once on that webpage, you can enter your first and last names, birth month and year and zip code to check if you're registered to vote. Or, you can enter your driver's license number and birth month and year to confirm your registration status.

If you're not registered to vote, you can do that online by going to michigan.gov/vote and clicking "Preregister or register to vote online."

You can vote in Michigan if you're a resident in the state, are a U.S. citizen, will be at least 18 years old by Election Day and are not currently serving a sentence in jail or prison.

Find out when early voting starts in your community

Go to michigan.gov/vote, click "Where do I go to Early Vote?" and enter the address where you're registered to vote. A list of early voting sites and the days and hours you can vote early will appear there.

Michigan law requires at least nine days of early voting available to all voters two Saturdays before Election Day and ending the Sunday before Election Day in statewide and federal elections. That means ahead of Nov. 5 Election Day, early voting will be offered statewide starting Oct. 26 and ending Nov. 3.

Canton Township, Detroit and East Lansing will begin their early voting periods before Oct. 26, according to the Secretary of State's office. Detroit voters can start voting early beginning Oct. 19, according to the clerk's website. Canton Township and East Lansing will make early voting available starting Oct. 21, according to the clerks' websites.

During early voting, sites must be open for a minimum of eight hours. Voters in line by closing time at an early voting site have the right to cast a ballot.

Early voting ends Nov. 3

If you want to vote early, you have until Nov. 3 to do so.

Michigan Voter Guide: Key Races

I already received an absentee ballot, can I still use an early voting center?

Yes! If you want to spend some time researching candidates and ballot proposals at home while filling out your absentee ballot, you can do that and then head to your early voting site to feed your absentee ballot into the tabulator. Once you do that, you cannot spoil your ballot and change how you vote.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How to vote early in Michigan: When it starts, locations