What safeguards are in place for absentee ballots? Clerks explain

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — With the security of absentee ballots questioned by some, particularly after record absentee turnout in Michigan during the 2020 presidential election, clerks are assuring voters that they check carefully to make sure every ballot that gets counted is legitimate and that no one gets to vote twice.

Two county clerks explained to News 8 that there are several safeguards in place, from signature verification to frequent reviews of death records.

“There’s a lot of different steps and different layers in terms of making sure that there’s integrity in that process,” Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck said.

“Voters should be aware the administration of our elections in Michigan is a system built around redundant checks-and-balances,” Robert Macomber, chief deputy clerk for Kent County, wrote in an email to News 8. “From the training of election workers, to the post-election canvass, to recounts, and audits — these are all steps that work together to ensure our elections are secure, transparent, fair, and accurate.”

SIGNATURE VERIFICATION

“Every single absentee ballot that is mailed out is tied directly to a voter, and that voter’s signature is the authentication piece that we use when the ballot comes back to us,” Roebuck explained.

It starts at the front end of the process, according to Macomber.

“A voter requests an absentee ballot using an application and their signature is verified on the application,” Macomber wrote.

The signature on the application is compared with the signature that’s on file for that voter, which is often the signature on their driver’s license. If the two match, the voter will receive an absentee ballot.

Because of a ballot proposal passed in 2022 that included a number of election reforms, voters no longer have to apply for an absentee ballot for each election. Instead, voters can choose to have absentee ballots sent to them for all future elections.

When voters return their absentee ballot, they will have to sign it. Again, their signature will be verified by their local clerk before the ballot is tabulated.

“On the back-end of the process, once the voter returns their ballot, the Clerk’s office will verify that the envelope has been signed by the voter and that the signature matches what’s on file for the voter,” Macomber wrote. “Only if that matches is the ballot tabulated.”

If the signatures don’t match, the local clerk will contact the voter promptly to fix the issue.

There are legitimate reasons why the signature on a voter’s absentee ballot may not match what’s on file, Roebuck told News 8. Your signature can be updated with your local clerk.

PREVENTING DOUBLE VOTING

“Once the ballot has been received, that’s it for that voter. They’ve now cast that ballot,” Roebuck said.

They won’t be allowed to vote again in person, he explained.

“So if a voter, who mailed in their absentee ballot and it was received by the clerk, tries to go in to vote in an early voting site or on Election Day, those records are there on their voter profile,” he said. “And as soon as they’re looked up in the system, the election workers know that they cannot issue another ballot to that voter.”

It works the opposite way, too, he said. If you’ve received an absentee ballot but need to vote in person instead, you have that option, so long as you haven’t submitted your absentee ballot yet. But it doesn’t mean you’ll have the opportunity to vote twice.

“A voter can (vote in person) as long as the (absentee) ballot has not been returned to the clerk,” Roebuck said.

When that happens, election workers will be able to see that the voter has been mailed an absentee ballot but has not returned it. To vote in person, the voter will have to sign a form.

“So there’s a form I have to sign that says either I lost my ballot or it’s gotten destroyed or whatever and I’m not voting that ballot. I’m voting a new ballot,” Roebuck explained. “That’s updated immediately. So if I were to go back home then and turn my (absentee) ballot in, that would already be updated in the system. And when the clerk went to scan that ballot in, they would see that I had already voted (in person).”

The system is updated in real time up until Election Day, according to the Ottawa County clerk.

“The law still requires that that voter poll book not be connected to the Internet (on Election Day),” Roebuck said.

The most recent data is downloaded at 4 p.m. on the Monday before Election Day. That’s what election workers will use on Election Day.

‘HUGE RISK, LOW REWARD’

Even so, any voter who has received an absentee ballot will still be required to sign a document if they’d like to vote in person on Election Day.

“I’ve just signed a legal document saying, ‘I don’t know where that ballot is, I can’t find that ballot.’ And that’s such a provable thing,” Roebuck said. “It’s a five-year felony. We don’t have that happen a whole lot because that’s a huge risk to take for very low reward.”

“Though it is infrequent, when we are notified of occurrences of double-voting, the voter is referred to law enforcement for investigation and potential prosecution,” Macomber wrote.

Four St. Clair Shores residents are now facing charges for allegedly voting absentee and in person in the Aug. 6 primary. Three election workers are also facing charges in the case. If convicted, they could spend years in prison.

“Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare. There are procedures in place to ensure this does not happen and that is why it so rarely does. It took a confluence of events and decisions to allow these four people to double vote,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference last week.

REMOVING THE DEAD FROM THE VOTER ROLLS

Many have wondered what happens when a person who is signed up to receive absentee ballots dies.

“Because Michigan’s voter records are maintained at the city or township level, and death certificates are filed at the county level, our offices work frequently together to ensure that the list of individuals who have died are checked against the voter file and are removed,” Macomber told News 8. “Likewise, County Clerks around the state work together to notify each other of voters who may have died in another county. Those efforts occur regularly throughout the year, and increase in frequency prior to an election.”

There are three main ways that deceased voters are removed from the voter rolls, according to Roebuck.

First, county clerks receive death records, look them up in the voter file and flag them for immediate cancellation by the local clerk.

“Every single month, county clerks have to do this. And then as it gets closer to the election, it’s every two weeks and then every week and then every day,” Roebuck said. “The closer to the election, the more we have to do it. In practice, we just do it every day.”

Second, death notices are received at the state level each week.

“So that’s every voter in the state of Michigan pinging against the Social Security Administration for deceased voters,” Roebuck said. “And so that’s a big way that deceased voters are removed.”

Finally, he said, local clerks read obituaries from their communities and remove voters accordingly.

“They’re checking the newspaper,” Roebuck said. “That’s the triple check in the system.”

If a person submits an absentee ballot but dies before Election Day, the clerk will reject their ballot and their vote will not be counted.

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