It was a weekend of long hours and all hands on deck in Grand Rapids as over 45,000 absentee ballots were prepped for a Thursday send off.
"It took more than just the clerk's staff," said City Clerk Joel Hondorp.
A record-breaking 2.39 million Michigan voters have requested an absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 general election, the Secretary of State's office said Tuesday.
Those ballots must be available to voters starting Thursday, Sept. 24, a requirement codified in the passage of Proposal 3 in 2018.
Just shy of 40 days out from the general election, local clerks are feeling the weight of an unprecedented number of absentee voters.
During the 2016 general election, Grand Rapids tabulated about 16,000 absentee ballots. Hondorp said there are a lot of variables, but he's expecting his office will at least send out 50,000.
The applications continue to roll in each day, he said.
"We will still be mailing them out until the Friday before the election," Hondorp said, noting that even after that day voters can still obtain an absentee ballot in person.
RELATED: How to vote by mail in Michigan
Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck said he expects to see a complete shift from the 2016 general election turnout between the changes to Michigan election law through Prop 3 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"I think our biggest challenge and our job as election administrators is to make sure that we have that infrastructure in place that we're allowing for the transition to a majority vote in the precinct, which is what we had four years ago, to a majority voting by mail, which is what we will very likely have in November," he said Tuesday.
Roebuck said within the county's 23 jurisdictions over 74,000 ballots have already been requested; 33% of the registered voters in Ottawa County. Local clerks already started mailing ballots, and early voting at the clerk's offices has also begun.
"That's a lot of traffic for our local clerks as they're dealing with of course the process of mailing out all those absentee ballots, as well," Roebuck said.
Roebuck said his office has ramped up recruitment efforts with the hope of having 20% more election workers. Earlier this year, the county also utilized a state match grant made up of CARES Act dollars to obtain additional election equipment, specifically for counting absentee ballots. Additional ballot drop boxes were also purchased.
In Grand Rapids, Hondorp said his office went from having just one to now six high-speed tabulators to be able to meet the demand. The city will have about 70 people opening absentee ballots. The clerk's office also established six new 24-hour drop boxes just this week with two in each ward.
During the primary, Hondorp said roughly 3,000 ballots were dropped off at the city's singular drop box across from City Hall. The drop boxes are just one option for absentee voters, the other options include an in-person drop off at the clerk's office or sending the ballot through USPS. It's advised that those who mail their ballot do so by Oct. 19.
Once the ballot arrives at the clerk's office, the signature on the envelope will be verified with the state's voter records, which utilizes the digital file of the signature on a voter's license or state ID. After that verification, Roebuck and Hondorp said ballots are secured in locked boxes until Election Day.
Both clerks said the best possible resource for voters is michigan.gov/vote. To find your local ballot drop box, click the 'Who is my clerk?' tab and fill out the form. On that same results page, voters can view the status of their absentee application and ballot in the top right hand corner.
Hondorp advised that voters check here first before calling, however, if a voter does not receive their ballot a week from Thursday, he said to call.
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