Michigan I Voted sticker created by Jane Hynous of Grosse Pointe, a student at Brownell Middle School. | Michigan Secretary of State
You never forget what life was like just after you have your first baby — even if it was 22 years ago.
I happened to be blessed with a colicky newborn who would only doze off for an hour tops after I nursed her and would shriek anytime I attempted to put her in her crib. It was a particularly chilly fall that year in Iowa, so I rarely bundled her up to venture out, unless she had a doctor’s appointment or I desperately needed something at the grocery store.
Just like at the beginning of the pandemic when we were all locked inside our houses, you tend to lose track of time as a new mom. Even though I was a reporter (on maternity leave), I have to admit that I didn’t realize the midterm elections were creeping up so quickly until a canvasser showed up at my door in October.
She asked if I wanted an absentee ballot — and I don’t think I ever said yes to anything so quickly in my life. Not only was I grateful to skip waiting in line for an hour with an inconsolable baby, but I also knew my neighbors would appreciate being spared splitting headaches.
During the decade I lived in the Hawkeye State, voting was always extremely convenient — and there was zero controversy about it. My first time voting was after I had grabbed a sandwich at the University of Iowa student union in between classes and happened to see they had an early polling station set up. I was in and out in five minutes.
So when I moved to Michigan 20 years ago, I was surprised that it was considerably harder to vote. At that time, Michiganders could only receive an absentee ballot for select reasons –– if you were over 60, out of town on Election Day, etc. Cities like Detroit and Flint had notoriously long voting lines.
That began to change when voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 3 of 2018, which allows no-reason absentee voting, same-day voter registration, automatic registration and more.
My kids, who are 21 and 22, have only know what it’s like to vote in Michigan under these new rules that make the process a lot less of a chore.
That’s one reason why Michigan had the highest youth voter turnout in the country during the 2022 midterms. Another reason was that we had an abortion rights measure on the ballot, which caused students at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to flood the polls. Many of them weren’t registered to vote, but were able to do so on Election Day because of these voting reforms.
Michigan also broke overall voter turnout records in both the 2020 presidential and the 2022 midterm elections.
Line to register to vote and cast a ballot at the University of Michigan, Nov. 8, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins
For years, I’ve interviewed politicians, academics and strategists about how we could increase voter turnout in the state. Sometimes I would get some creative ideas, like making Election Day more of a festival with streamers and balloons at polling places. But it turns out, it was the boring, logical solution posed by experts that delivered the desired result: Give people more options to vote over a longer period of time.
Meanwhile, in Iowa, there are a lot more barriers to vote than there were when I lived there a couple decades ago. It’s one of 10 states that enacted absentee voting restrictions after former President Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, which has caused some confusion, especially for seniors who had grown accustomed to a simple process.
But Michigan has continued to be a trendsetter for expanding voting rights. In 2022, voters approved another constitutional amendment that established a permanent absentee voter list, guaranteed access to ballot drop boxes and required at least nine days of early voting.
We’ve already seen record-breaking early voting turnout this election, per the secretary of state. Almost 1.5 million people have cast their ballots with nine days to go before Election Day, Nov. 5.
Other states are also seeing interest in early voting. As of Thursday, 30 million Americans had cast their ballots, according to data from the University of Florida’s election lab. About 13 million voted early in person and 17 million voted by mail.
Saturday marked the first day of early, in-person voting across Michigan, while three municipalities — East Lansing, Detroit and Canton Township — opened their polls even earlier. The line was nearly out the door at my polling place in Meridian Township Saturday afternoon and there have been similar reports across the Mitten State.
No doubt, the fact that both the Democratic and Republican parties are encouraging early voting has boosted turnout (unlike in 2020 when Trump railed against almost nonexistent voter fraud).
And Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that over 145,000 people made history by showing up Saturday to vote.
You absolutely love to see it.
Early voting sign at Meridian Township’s government complex, Feb. 25, 2024 | Susan J.Demas
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