Student Voting Guide | Michigan
Registration
http://www.michigan.gov/vote (registration form available online)
You must register to vote at least 30 days before Election Day.[1] If this date falls on a weekend day or a holiday, then the deadline extends to the next business day.[2] Mail-in registration forms must be postmarked by this date.[3]
Be aware that if you are a first-time Michigan voter who registers to vote by mail or through a voter registration drive, you cannot vote absentee in your first election—you must vote in person on Election Day.[4] If you register at a public agency (like a driver’s license office) or at the county, city, or township clerk’s office, you will be able to vote absentee.
You are able to register to vote if you will be 18 by the next primary or general election.[5]
Residency
Michigan law states that if you keep your things in a place and regularly sleep there, you are a resident.[6] In Michigan, residence for voting purposes does not necessarily equal domicile.[7]
At School. The Secretary of State of Michigan has indicated that students are free to choose to register to vote at school or at home.[8]
At Home. Students who lived in Michigan prior to attending school and who wish to establish or keep their Michigan voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Michigan allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you will lose this residency is if you “abandon” it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Michigan, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Effect on Driver’s Licenses. Under Michigan law, if you have a Michigan driver’s license, the address on it must match your voting address.[9] If you register to vote with an address different from the one on your driver’s license, then your driver’s license address will be automatically updated and you will get an update sticker in the mail. Similarly, if you update your driver’s license address, your voter registration will be automatically updated.[10] You can of course still register to vote if you don’t have a Michigan driver’s license.
Challenges to Residency. Because Michigan law allows students to choose their voting residence, you are unlikely to face denials or challenges based on your residency. The local clerks have a duty to initially reject your registration if they believe you are not a true resident, but they must notify you of this decision by mail.[11] Clerks can also cancel your registration if they later come to believe that you are not a resident; you will have the opportunity to respond to the clerk and to challenge the clerk’s decision in court. [12] Alternately, if the clerk suspects your registration, the clerk can mark your registration as challenged and you will have to go through the challenge procedure at the polls to vote. Ordinarily, the only time a voter’s record is challenged is when the voter registration confirmation mailed to you gets returned by the post office.
Your eligibility to vote can also be challenged by another voter;[13] once they challenge you, the clerk will send you notice and you have 30 days to defend your eligibility, either in person or in writing.[14] If you do not respond or the clerk thinks you are ineligible, your registration will be cancelled.
At the polls, your right to vote can be challenged on the basis of residency only by a poll worker.[15] Partisan challengers and other voters can only challenge your eligibility to vote on the basis that you are not a registered voter or that you have already requested an absentee ballot.[16] If your eligibility is challenged, then you will be asked questions about your eligibility; if the poll workers determine that your answers show you are a qualified elector, then you will be able to vote.[17]
Identification
Every Michigan voter will be asked to show photo ID at the polls.[18] The following types of photo ID are accepted: 1) a Michigan driver’s license or state-issued ID card; 2) an out-of-state driver’s license; 3) any other federal or state government-issued photo ID card; 4) a U.S. passport; 5) a military ID card; 6) a student ID card (from a high school or an accredited college); and 7) a tribal ID card.[19] If you do not have any acceptable form of photo ID, you can sign an affidavit and still cast a regular ballot.[20]
In addition, first-time voters who registered by mail whose Michigan driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number have not been verified by the state must show either photo ID or ID with their name and address on it the first time they vote.[21] You can show a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows your name and address, and you can show that ID at the polls or send a copy with your registration.[22] Cell phone bills are not accepted as utility bills, but student housing bills with your address will be accepted, as will online printouts.[23] If you cannot show the required ID you can vote a provisional ballot, but the provisional ballot will only be counted if you provide ID to your county clerk within 6 days of the election.[24]
Absentee Voting
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/AbsentVoterBallot_105377_7.pdf
Under Michigan law, voters who expect to be absent from the county where they are registered to vote during polling hours are entitled to vote absentee, but first-time voters who registered by mail must vote in person.[25] If you are interested in voting absentee the first time you vote in Michigan, you must register in person at a government office.[26] In addition, only “absent” voters may vote absentee.[27]
Your absentee ballot request has to be received by your city or township clerk by 2:00 p.m. on the Saturday before Election Day.[28] Blank applications are available on the web site of the Secretary of State at the above link. Your absentee ballot must be received by your city or township clerk by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.[29] Neither your application nor your ballot has to be witnessed or notarized.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.497(1).
[2] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.497(1).
[3] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509x.
[4] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509t(2).
[5] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.492.
[6] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.11(1) (West 2010).
[7] Reaume & Silloway, Inc. v Tetzlaff, 23 NW2d 219 (Mich. 1946).
[8] Correspondence with the Office of the Michigan Secretary of State (July 30, 2008).
[9] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 168.509o(3), 168.509r(2) (West 2010); see also id. § 257.307(1)(c) (2009).
[10] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 257.307(1)(c).
[11] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 168.500d, 168.519.
[12] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.521 (West 2010).
[13] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.512 (West 2010).
[14] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.512 (West 2010). The 30-day deadline tolls from the date that the notice of challenge is mailed.
[15] See Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.727.
[16] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ .168.727, 168.733.
[17] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.729 (West 2010).
[18] Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.523(1).
[19] Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.523(1).;.see also Michigan Dept. of State, “Picture Identification in the Polls Questions and Answers,” available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/090507_Voter_Id_QA5_209294_7.pdf (last accessed Jan. 27, 2009).
[20] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.523(1) (2009).
[21] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509t.
[22] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509t.
[23] Interview with Kristi Dougan, Elections Specialist, Office of the Michigan Secretary of State (May 15, 2008).
[24] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann § 168.813 (2009); Michigan Dept. of State, “Picture Identification in the Polls Questions and Answers,” available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/090507_Voter_Id_QA5_209294_7.pdf (last accessed Jan. 27, 2009).
[25] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509t(2) (2009).
[26] See Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.509t(2).
[27] See Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 168.758(1), 168.758a.
[28] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 168.759(1), 168.758a.
[29] Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 168.764a.
