In Michigan, and in every state, only U.S. citizens are eligible to register to vote or cast a ballot in any state or federal election.

There is no evidence to support claims that large numbers of noncitizens have voted in past elections or are registering to vote in 2024. In fact, the name of everyone who registers or votes in an election is a public record – it would be very easy to see if noncitizens were registering or voting in large numbers.

Learn more: Only U.S. citizens can vote

Over the last eight years, the Michigan Department of State (MDOS) made major reforms to the way it processes, verifies and reviews voter registrations.

Only U.S. citizens can legally register and vote in Michigan. When a person applies for a driver’s license or state ID at a Secretary of State branch, they show documents to prove they legally live in Michigan. MDOS staff check those documents against the federal government’s system. If those documents confirm the person is a U.S. citizen, the state system automatically registers them to vote.

There are several ways voters keep their registrations up to date like renewing their driver’s license or state ID, changing their address, or voting in an election.

Election officials also update registrations, removing voters who have died or moved out of state.

A new 2025 rule lets state election officials mark voters who haven’t voted or updated their information in the last 20 years as “verify.” That starts a countdown under federal law. After two federal election cycles have passed, if that person has not voted or updated their registration, this new rule lets MDOS cancel that registration. Now every year, all voter registrations over 20 years old will enter the cancellation countdown, keeping the voter rolls up to date and accurate while following the law.

Are you registered to vote? Find out at mi.gov/vote.

Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for all elections. Voters who are in line at their polling place by 8 p.m. on Election Day have the right to cast their ballot. An election inspector will announce that it is 8 p.m. and will mark the last person in line that is eligible to vote.

State law prohibits promoting specific candidates or issues on the ballot within 100 feet of a polling place entrance. Candidates, or supporters attempting to persuade voters must stay at least 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place. Candidates can only be inside that boundary when they are voting. These laws apply to early in-person voting sites as well as Election Day polling locations.

Every voter in Michigan has the right to cast their ballot free from intimidation and without being solicited for votes when they are within the 100-foot boundary. Anyone breaking this law may face criminal charges.

Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 in 2022, allowing registered voters to decide to be placed on a permanent absentee ballot list so their local clerk will automatically mail them an absentee ballot for every local, state, and federal election. 

Only U.S. citizens can vote and there are strict rules to ensure only eligible Michiganders vote in our elections.

Identity

• In person: You will be asked to show a valid photo ID. If you do not have one, you can sign a legal form swearing you do not have it with you under penalty of perjury.
• Online: You must provide your Michigan driver’s license or state ID number, along with the last four digits of your Social Security number.

Residency

• Verification: The local clerk checks your application to ensure you confirmed your city or township address.
• Mailing: The clerk will mail you a voter information card. If the post office returns the card as undeliverable, the clerk will mail a notice asking you to confirm your address using a prepaid return postcard.

U.S. citizenship

• Documents: You do not need to show a birth certificate or passport to register.
• Affirmation: You must officially swear on the form that you are a U.S. citizen.
• Penalty: Lying about your citizenship status on a voter application is a felony.

For more details, visit the register to vote page.

You don’t need an excuse or a reason - all registered voters in Michigan can vote by mail.

Despite recent attempts to restrict mail voting, you can still vote by mail for the August and November elections. Mail voting is a very popular way to vote in our state. In 2024, more than 39% of Michigan voters cast their ballot by mail.

There are several ways to request a mail (absentee) ballot:

• Online through our absentee voter request form at mi.gov/vote
• Calling your clerk and ask to have an absentee ballot application be mailed to you
• Downloading an application to return by mail or in person to your clerk
• In person at your local clerk’s office

The Constitution and federal law are clear about the federal government’s very limited power over election administration. For example, it is:

• A federal and state crime for anyone — including federal, state, and local officials — to “intimidate, threaten, [or] coerce … any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of [that] other person to vote or to vote as he may choose.” (18 U.S. Code § 594 and MCL 168.932)
• Unlawful for anyone in the U.S. military to interfere in elections in any way. (18 U.S. Code § 593)
• A violation of the Constitution to deploy federal troops or armed men to any location where voting is taking place, or elections are being held, unless “such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” [AB5.1][BD5.2] (18 U.S. Code § 592)

It is not uncommon for bigger cities and counties to receive large numbers of absentee/mail ballots up until 8 p.m. on election night. Physically collecting mail ballots from city, township and county ballot drop boxes, bringing them to a mail ballot counting board, verifying the voter’s signature on each ballot, opening the envelopes, and counting each ballot takes time. For this reason, and because accuracy is always prioritized over speed, announcements on unofficial election results may take up to 24 hours.

A primary election is not a final election to choose an officeholder. It is a preliminary election to let supporters of a political party narrow down their own field of candidates. The winners of each party's primary move on to face each other in the general election. In the general election, voters are free to vote for candidates from any party.

On the primary ballot, there are two columns: one for Democrats and one for Republicans. You can only fill out one of these columns when you vote. Clerks can't count any ballots from voters who fill out both columns or split choices between parties. You don't have to be a registered party member to vote in either party's primary.

Federal election monitors are a normal part of the election process. They observe polling places on election day in locations across the country chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice based on “information of possible voting rights problems.”

Election monitors, unless allowed inside by local clerk, generally observe from outside the physical boundaries of the polling place established under state law. In Michigan, it is 100 feet from a polling place’s entrance.

When polls close on election night, ballots are removed from voting machines and placed into an approved storage bin and closed with an official State of Michigan seal. The bins are then securely stored until the election is canvassed. After canvass and certification, state and federal election ballots are held for a 22-month period.

Michigan’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) is a secure voter records database that sends and receives regular updates of a voter’s ballot activity. If a voter submits an absentee ballot or casts a ballot at an early voting site, that information is updated in the QVF and flagged for election workers to prevent double voting.

If a voter submits an absentee ballot and then votes at an early voting site, the absentee ballot will be rejected and does not count.

If a clerk receives multiple absentee ballot applications for a voter, only one absentee ballot is issued to that voter after the clerk has verified that the signature on the absentee ballot application matches the voter’s signature on file. Election workers also verify the signature on the ballot envelope when it is returned by the voter.

Michigan maintains its voter rolls according to state and federal laws to ensure the accuracy of the Qualified Voter File. When election mail—such as a voter information card or an absentee ballot application—is returned to a clerk by the Postal Service as undeliverable, the clerk sends a cancellation notice to the voter's address. If the voter doesn’t respond, their status changes to inactive. Inactive voters can still vote, but if they do not vote or contact their clerk within the next two federal elections, their registration is cancelled.

Michigan is committed to accurate voter rolls. Since 2019, state and local election officials have identified over 2.1 million voter registrations that are eligible for cancellation, and 1.5 million have been removed from the Qualified Voter File (QVF) – 500,000 more than under any previous Michigan Secretary of State. An additional 600,000 registrations, including those of people who haven’t voted in 20 years or more, have been moved to inactive status.

This two-election delay is necessary because an address change does not always mean a voter has changed their permanent residency. For instance, people often move temporarily for school, military service, or work assignments while legally keeping their right to vote in Michigan.

Learn more about voter registration cancellation procedures.

Students can choose to register at either their campus address or their permanent home address, even if they’re an out of state student attending school in Michigan. Like every voter, students can only cast one ballot per election.

Michigan law allows all voters to register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day – including on Election Day. Any voter standing in line to vote at their city or township clerk's office by 8 p.m. on Election Night will be allowed to register and cast a ballot.

Learn more about student voting: Student voting

You can legally vote in Michigan as long as you are Michigan resident, a U.S. citizen, 18 years old on or before Election Day, and not currently serving a sentence in jail or prison. Citizens with past convictions, who are on parole, who are on probation or who are waiting to be sentenced either in or out of jail are all eligible to vote.

As of 2024, 16 and 17-year-old Michigan residents can preregister to vote.

You can preregister online at mi.gov/vote, at a Secretary of State branch office or by printing, filling out, and mailing a preregistration form to your local clerk’s office. You can also contact your local clerk to have a form mailed to you.

If you preregister, you can participate in early in-person or absentee/mail-in voting for an election, as long as you will be 18 on or before the date of that election.

Learn more about voter preregistration.

Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 in 2022 to give every voter the right to cast a ballot early and in person at an early voting site before Election Day. Early voting is available for every statewide and federal election. Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands all offer in-person early voting to citizens.

Voters can find their assigned early voting site(s) up to 60 days before Election Day at Michigan.gov/Vote.

Learn more about voting at an early voting site: Early in-person voting

Michigan law allows same-day voter registration, meaning that eligible citizens can register and vote up to and on Election Day. Voters may register or update their voter registration in person at their city or township clerk’s office through 8 p.m. on Election Day. Citizens must bring proof of residency with them to their clerk’s office if attempting to register on Election Day.

You may receive an absentee ballot application in the mail from your clerk, a political party, a campaign, or a nonpartisan organization. Third party organizations are legally allowed to send out absentee ballot applications – they are not ballots. If you receive one of these applications, you can either complete it and return it to your clerk’s office or simply throw it away. Voters can always request an absentee ballot from their local clerk or at mi.gov/vote.

Absentee ballots and ballot applications are rejected if they don’t have a signature that matches the signature on the voter’s file. Only one vote per voter will be counted.

If you receive election mail for someone who no longer lives at your address, you can help your clerk update the state’s voter rolls. Write “no longer at this address” on the mail and put it back in the mailbox. The U.S. Postal Service will then notify your clerk that the election mail has been returned as “undeliverable.” The clerk will send a notice of cancellation and move the voter to inactive status.

If you receive election mail for someone in your home who has died, you can write “deceased” on the mailing and put it back in the mailbox. If a family member has died, you can contact your clerk in writing to inform them of their death or send an obituary or death notice to the clerk who can use the information to cancel the voter’s registration.

For the privacy and security of other voters and election workers, voters are not allowed to hold up their ballot for a selfie or a photo. Voters can take selfies outside of the area where people are voting and are encouraged to do so!

Michigan drop boxes are made of heavy-duty steel. They are secure, locked, and bolted to the ground. All drop boxes in Michigan have security cameras pointed at them for 24/7 monitoring. Only official clerk staff who have taken a legal oath can collect ballots from drop boxes, and clerks collect them at least once a day.

Voters can track the status of their mail ballots at mi.gov/vote.

Learn more about mail voting.

In 2023, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill to lift the state’s ban on hiring transportation to give voters rides to the polls.

Voters who cast a ballot at an early voting site will feed their completed ballot into the tabulator, however, clerks and election workers will not see a running total of votes cast for candidates. Clerks are not permitted to start calculating results until the polls close on Election Night.

Michigan passed a law in 2023 to allow clerks in the state’s large jurisdictions to begin processing absentee ballots the week before Election Day. All jurisdictions can begin processing ballots the day before Election Day.

Absentee ballot processing includes checking that the signature on the ballot envelope matches the signature on file with the voter’s registration, updating the QVF to show that the voter has cast a ballot, opening the ballot envelope, and running the ballot through the tabulator where the votes are stored. Clerks cannot calculate or report vote totals until the polls close on Election Night.

Not only does Michigan law require machine counting of votes, data shows that machine counting is more accurate, less expensive, and faster than hand-counting ballots.

Local clerks purchase and maintain machines that use paper ballots scanned through electronic counting machines. Paper ballots and printed vote tallies are kept and can be recounted and reviewed.

Machines cannot be connected to the internet while ballots are being tabulated. Only after the counting has finished and a paper record has been created will authorized election workers connect the machines to send electronic unofficial results to the county clerk. They also bring a hard copy of the paper tally to the county clerk to make sure vote counts are accurate.

Bipartisan boards of canvassers at the county and state level are required by law to affirm the will of the people by certifying the results of elections. Our legislature has passed, and the Governor has signed, legislation making that law even stronger – up to and including civil or criminal charges for failure to act in accordance with their duties under the law.

Learn more: AG Nessel, Secretary Benson on Duty of Canvassers to Certify Election Results

Actual voter fraud in Michigan is extremely rare and isolated. The many security checks in our system prevent it, and when it does happen, the perpetrators are caught and prosecuted. If you see something you believe to be election fraud, a full description of the matter involving any suspected illegal activity should be reported to the following:

• Michigan Department of State Office of Investigative Services: SOS-OIS@Michigan.gov or 844-372-8356
• FBI: tips.fbi.gov or 800-CALL-FBI
• Michigan Attorney General’s Office: Michigan.gov/AG or 517-335-0800
• Michigan State Police: 855-642-4847 (1-855-MICH-TIP)