When you cast your ballot in Michigan, what happens next? How do election officials make sure your vote is counted correctly?
Michigan has several checks and safeguards built into its election process. From verifying voter information to securing paper ballots and reviewing election results, local election officials and election workers have specific responsibilities at every step.
With Election Day approaching on Tuesday, November 3, here’s a closer look at how Michigan protects ballots, counts votes, and verifies election results.
Before You Vote: Election Officials Check Voter Records
Before issuing a ballot, election workers check a voter’s information in Michigan’s election records.
The state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF) tracks voter registration and ballot activity, including whether someone has already voted absentee or in person.
This helps election workers confirm that each eligible voter receives the appropriate ballot and prevents someone from voting more than once in the same election.
For absentee ballots, local clerks also verify signatures as part of the process for issuing and accepting ballots.
These checks are carried out by trained election workers in Michigan communities.
Michigan Uses Paper Ballots
Every vote cast in Michigan has a paper ballot.
When you vote in person, you mark your ballot and insert it into a tabulator, the machine that reads and records your selections.
Absentee ballots are also processed and counted using approved voting equipment.
Michigan’s tabulators are tested before each election through a process called logic and accuracy testing. Election officials use test ballots with predetermined results to check that the equipment records votes correctly.
We’ve shared more about this process in our earlier article, Before Election Day: VAAC Observes Voting Machine Testing, More Public Tests Ahead.
The paper ballots provide a physical record that can be reviewed if questions arise during canvassing, recounts, or audits.
What Happens to Your Ballot After It’s Counted?
After ballots are counted, election officials must secure and preserve them according to Michigan law.
Michigan uses documented chain-of-custody procedures.
That means election workers follow specific rules for handling, transporting, sealing, and storing ballots, with records showing who was responsible for election materials.
After polls close, voted ballots are placed in secure containers with numbered seals. The seals help officials determine whether containers have remained secure.
Ballots remain available for legally authorized reviews, recounts, and audits.
These procedures apply to ballots cast on Election Day, during early voting, and through absentee voting.
You can learn more about the process through Michigan Voting’s election security resources.
What Happens After Election Night?
The results reported on election night are unofficial. Michigan has an additional review process before election results become official.
Each of Michigan’s 83 counties has a Board of County Canvassers consisting of two Democrats and two Republicans.
These boards review election paperwork from precincts and absentee counting boards, check that vote totals have been reported correctly, and identify mathematical or clerical errors that need correction.
This process is called canvassing.
The canvassers’ job is to review the election records and certify the results according to the votes cast. It is not their role to decide which candidates should win or to substitute their preferences for voters’ choices.
County canvassing boards certify results for elections within their jurisdiction. The bipartisan Board of State Canvassers reviews county results and certifies statewide elections.
Michigan law also provides a backup process: If a county board does not certify, the Board of State Canvassers takes over that responsibility.
Voters determine election results. Canvassing boards verify and certify them.
How Are Election Results Checked?
Michigan also conducts post-election audits to check election procedures and results.
These reviews can include checking whether:
- Voting equipment was tested before the election.
- Election workers followed required procedures.
- The number of ballots issued matches election records.
- Ballot containers were properly sealed.
- Paper ballot counts match the results recorded by tabulators.
Michigan also uses audits involving hand counts of selected paper ballots to check the accuracy of tabulated results.
These additional reviews are possible because the state maintains paper ballots and records of how they were handled.
Local Election Workers Make These Safeguards Possible
Michigan’s elections depend on city and township clerks, election inspectors, county election officials, canvassers, and volunteers.
These are people who work in our communities. They prepare voting equipment, verify voter information, assist voters, secure ballots, review records, and carry out the procedures required by Michigan law.
Their work continues after Election Day, even after unofficial results have been reported.
Have Questions or Concerns About Voting?
If you have questions about voting, encounter a problem at your polling place, or see information about elections that you’re unsure is accurate, there are resources available.
Visit mi.gov/vote for official information about your voter registration, voting location, and ballot.
You can also call the nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for assistance or to report an election issue.
To learn more about Michigan’s election safeguards, explore:
- Michigan Voting: Secure and Accurate Elections
- Michigan Secretary of State: Election Security
- Michigan Secretary of State: Election Fact Center
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and polls are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
Michigan’s election procedures include checks before, during, and after voting to help ensure that eligible voters can cast their ballots and that their votes are counted accurately.
The post What Happens to Your Ballot After You Vote? How Michigan Protects and Counts Every Vote appeared first on Voting Access For All.