Can't Make it to the Polls? Vote Absentee This Weekend

Local clerks’ offices will be open Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to take applications for absentee ballots.

Registered voters can qualify for an absentee ballot by meeting one of six tests:

• Age 60 years or older;
• Unable to vote without assistance at the polls;
• Expecting to be out of town on Election Day;
• In jail awaiting arraignment or trial;
• Unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons; or
• Appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.

Absentee voters can vote at the clerk’s office during Saturday hours, but Orion Township Clerk Penny Shults cautions that the ballot is long.

“If they want to vote it here, they can but they need to allow ample time,” she said. The township also offers a drop box so completed ballots can be dropped off any time.

After 2 p.m. Saturday, you can still request an emergency absentee ballot if you find you cannot get to your polling place on Election Day because of physical disability or a death or illness in the family. Requests for an emergency ballot must be submitted to the local clerk’s office before 4 p.m. on Election Day.

All ballots must be received no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“Absentee ballots are handled in exactly the same fashion” as regular ballots,” Shults said. “Every single vote is counted.”