Susan J. Demas
As Michigan enters the final hours of balloting, officials say things are proceeding without major disruption, despite earlier bomb hoaxes that were called in to several Michigan precincts and have been confirmed by the FBI as being linked to Russia.
“No voting in Michigan was disrupted as a result of these non-credible threats, and we want to make sure that every citizen in Michigan understands that they will be safe at the polls. And we’ve had a really successful and safe day so far. So if there’s people that are waiting to cast their ballot, they should go ahead and do so,” said Michigan Department of State spokesperson Angela Benander.
As to a post by former President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account, in which he said there was “heavy law enforcement” in Philadelphia and Detroit, Benander said they had no information as to what he was referring to and would not be addressing it.
As of 6 p.m., 3,406,009 ballots have been received, meaning 46.6% of Michigan’s active registered voters have cast a ballot as either an absentee ballot or through early voting, which ended Sunday.
Numbers on total votes, including in-person ballots cast today, won’t be available until after 9 p.m.
Over 2,191,560 absentee ballots have been returned statewide so far, with 93% of absentee ballots that were requested having been returned. 85,223 of those were returned to either a clerk’s office or a drop box today, and can be returned until 8 p.m. local time.
As for same day registration, officials say there were 16,573 people who took advantage of same day registration and did so today.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will hold a live press briefing at 9 p.m. after polls close.
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