Early voting begins

Absentee ballots have been mailed out for the Nov. 3 General Election.

By Charles Sercombe
The 2020 General Election is now in motion.
On Saturday, Hamtramck City Clerk August Gitschlag mailed out absentee ballots to those who asked for them – over 4,600.
Hamtramck isn’t the only city experiencing heavy absentee ballot (AV) voting.
The state Secretary of Office is reporting that 2.5 million AV ballots have already been requested – a whopping 350 percent increase compared to this time in the 2016 presidential election.
At the rate it’s going, this presidential election, Nov. 3, is going to top the 2016 turnout when over 6,200 Hamtramck voters participated.
Early voting nationwide has also been extremely popular.
Voters across the country are being urged to vote by absentee because of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
The ballot this year is lengthy, as is usual for a presidential election, as it will include various judgeships, the race for US Senator, in which Gary Peters (D) is the incumbent, three local ballot proposals and four seats on the school board.
If you wish to vote by absentee ballot, you have plenty of time, although voters are being urged to return the ballots as soon as possible because of the ongoing slowdown of mail delivery.
“Voting absentee is a safe and secure option, and I encourage all voters who have requested a ballot to fill it out, sign the back of the envelope, and return it as soon as possible by mailing it or hand-delivering it to their clerk’s office or drop box,” said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in a recent press release.
“Voters can be confident that, in Michigan, all correctly submitted absentee ballots will be counted.”
You can also register to vote on the day of the election at the Hamtramck City Clerk’s Office. To do so you must have a Michigan ID, and bring one document proving residency, including name and address, in either digital or paper form. Acceptable documents include:
• Current utility bill
• Bank statement
• Paycheck or government check
• Other government document
Posted Oct. 2, 2020