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Benson, election officials hail recent reforms at press conference

Voting booths
Wikimedia Commons
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Creative Commons 2.0
Voting booths

Early in-person voting opened across Michigan this past weekend. Election officials are praising the policy changes that allowed that to happen.

Since 2022, Michigan election policies have changed in a few ways.

Aside from the early voting period clerks can now begin some pre-processing of absentee ballots ahead of election day. It’s something supporters say leads to faster results.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says new laws against intimidating election workers are making officials feel more secure.

“We’ve also been running scenario planning exercises with law enforcement, first responders, and our clerks all across the state to make sure that we’ve got a rapid response plan in place if anything does erupt or occur on election day so that we can be ready.”

Officials are hoping the changes avoid a repeat of the 20-20 election cycle when Michigan became a target of attempts to overturn the presidential election results.