Secretary of State Benson talks about massive turnout for early in-person voting

We're officially 9 days away from Election Day but that hasn't stopped voters from hitting the poll. On Saturday, early in-person voting kicked off across Michigan, and it got off to a big start with 145,174 Michiganders casting their votes.

The turnouts so far have been loud and true with early in-person voting, with citizens fully taking advantage of this new concept, that was put into place in 2022.

And the numbers after Saturday says enough when you compare it to the state wide results from February's Primary Election.

And the turnout is nice to see for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Benson sat down with our Fox 17 to discuss early voting numbers thus far.

"We had two statewide elections already, the presidential and August primary, where early voting was available," said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. "Maybe, less than 100,000 total (voters), took advantage of it in either election.”

Benson is not surprised by the turnout, because she understands the magnitude of this upcoming election.

"I mean, we know that the world is watching Michigan, the nation is watching Michigan," said Secretary of State Benson. "So, for voters to step up and say, watch what we do, engage and vote, it's really a great thing.”

Those numbers are looking the same locally, with Kent County voting numbers also going up.

With 20,656 ballots being casted in Kent County after the first weekend of in-person voting.

Compare that turnout to the Presidential Primary back in February, which saw less than 700 early voters in total.

Even with the major increase of early in-person voters from previous elections, local clerks continue to stay prepared.

"We knew there was going to be a lot more voters participating in early voting," said Lisa Posthumus-Lyons, Clerk for Kent County "And our local clerks have done a really great job getting everything prepared and meeting that challenge head on.”

The clerks understand that the work done through early voting will help immensely come Election Day, whether it be through absentee, mail-in, or in-person.

"Just in these two days, we've already got a total county wide voter turnout of 22 Percent," said Posthumus-Lyons. "So, I know that's going to be something that has an impact on Election Day. Because the more people that are casting their ballots early, the less people that are going to be going out to the polls on Election Day.”

The last day for early in-person voting will be Sunday, November 3rd.

If you're interested in getting set up for early voting click here for everything you need to know.

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