LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Now that Michigan’s Aug. 4 primaries are in the rearview mirror, one thing has become clear: Election Day is becoming less of a day and more of a deadline. By the time polls opened on primary day, more than 1.3 million voters had already cast their ballots, according to the Michigan Department of State. That included more than 139,000 people who voted in person at an early-voting site, with the rest largely casting absentee ballots.

In other words, a sizable chunk of Michigan’s electorate had already made their choices before traditional Election Day even arrived.

Early voting has become the new normal in Michigan.

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Michigan voters now have several ways to beat Election Day to the punch. Following the passage of Proposal 2 in 2022, the state constitution guarantees at least nine consecutive days of in-person early voting before statewide and federal elections. Voters can also cast absentee ballots without providing a reason. And Michiganders appear increasingly comfortable doing exactly that.

Two weeks before this year’s primary, nearly 1.97 million absentee ballots had been requested, a whopping 68.5% increase from the same point before the 2022 primary. At that point, more than 572,000 ballots had already been returned.

A week before the election, the number of ballots already cast had climbed to 832,435, or 11.3% of Michigan’s active registered voters. Then came the final rush, pushing pre-Election Day voting beyond 1.3 million.

Election Day is just the finish line.

The shift is significant because early in-person voting is still relatively new in Michigan. The constitutional requirement took effect for the 2024 election cycle after voters approved Proposal 2.

Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie credited Michigan’s roughly 1,600 local clerks and thousands of election workers after polls closed Aug. 4, calling the primary “safe, secure, and successful.”

The traditional Tuesday trip to the neighborhood polling place certainly isn’t disappearing. But Michigan’s numbers suggest Election Day is increasingly becoming the last day to vote, rather than the day Michigan votes. For more than 1.3 million voters this primary, Aug. 4 was already old news by the time the polls opened.

Democrats had a reason to smile.

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The other big number coming out of the primary wasn’t just how many people voted early – it was which party’s ballot they chose. According to MIRS, more than 61% of Michigan voters who cast a partisan primary ballot voted on the Democratic side, compared with less than 39% who chose a Republican ballot. That’s a sizable gap heading toward November and another number Republicans will likely be studying closely as they try to hold the state House and compete in other statewide races. MIRS also reported that if primary turnout translated directly into general election victories, Democrats would win a commanding 74-36 majority in the House and a 24-14 majority in the Senate.