City of Muskegon Government issued the following announcement on Sept. 8.
Here is our second update for the November Election. We asked voters to send us their questions, and we will do our best to answer!
As of today, we have received 6,275 absentee ballot requests. This is an additional 144 applications in the last 5 days.
Here are a few questions we have received:
Question - I marked the box indicating I want an absentee ballot for each Election. Do I still need to fill out an application for every Election?
Answer - Yes, the law requires that voters sign the absentee ballot application for every Election. By checking the box indicating you want an absentee ballot application for every Election means we will mail you an application for every Election. But you still must sign and return that application for us to mail you a ballot.
Question - Recently there was a recount in which all ballots could not be recounted. Why is this and could it happen in Muskegon?
Answer - There are many reasons why a precinct may not be re-countable. A precinct can not be recounted if ballots are not in a certified ballot container. The law indicates ballots must be sealed in a certified ballot container. A precinct may not be recounted if the container is not properly sealed, or if the seal number is not recorded correctly. These are just some of the reasons.
On Election night, the precinct takes their paperwork to a Receiving Board who looks everything over to be sure it was sealed correctly, the seal number is recorded correctly, etc. as a way of double checking the work of the Precinct Workers. We do everything in our power to be sure the precinct is recountable but sometimes it is beyond our control. We strive to be perfect and with over 50 years of Election experience working in the office, we can usually eliminate the most common mistakes, but no Election is perfect and neither are people so situations do develop that can make this possible for any jurisdiction. We are happy to report that recounts we have been involved in for the last several years have all been recountable.
Question - How are absentee ballots processed?
Answer - There are a lot of details that go into processing absentee ballots but we will try to give an overall summary.
Once an application for an absentee ballot is received, it is entered into the computer as received, usually the same day. Voters can go to www.michigan.gov/vote at any time to verify their application/ballot has been sent/received.
After the application has been checked into the computer, the signature is compared to the signature on file. If there is a discrepancy, the voter is notified. Once ballots are on hand, staff will assign a ballot to be mailed to the voter, print a label, place the ballot in a secrecy sleeve, provide an envelope for the ballot to be mailed back in, and place it in an envelope for outgoing mail.
Once the ballot is returned, it is checked into the computer, the signature is, again, verified with the signature on file, and the ballot is filed by ballot number within the voter's precinct. A report is printed to compare the number of ballots received in the computer to the ballots we have physically in our office.
No processing of ballots happens until 7 am on Election Day under the current law.
This is the shortened version, but I hope it helps explain the process. Thanks!
Original source can be found here.
Source: City of Muskegon Government
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