Michigan voters have returned over 1M ballots with one week until Election Day

More than 16% of Michigan's registered voters have returned their ballots or voted early in person as of Monday, with the Nov. 3 midterm election approaching within days. 

The Michigan Secretary of State's office reported on Monday via its Michigan Voting Dashboard that 1,074,736 of the 2,148,228 absentee ballots requested by voters have been returned. 

In the meantime, 138,686 people voted early in person by the end of Sunday.  

Those ballots submitted so far account for 16.4% of Michigan's 7,408,638 active registered voters. 

Early in-person voting started statewide on Saturday. A few communities, such as East Lansing, started early voting on Oct. 19. Detroit started its early voting season on Saturday. City officials said 2,305 Detroiters cast ballots across the city's eight early voting centers on Saturday. The total surpassed the 1,897 ballots cast on the first day of early in-person voting for the 2024 election. 

According to state officials, the largest participation in early voting historically happens on Saturday and Sunday before Election Day. 

Absentee voting and early in-person voting became widely popular in the state after their introduction in recent years. During Michigan's August primary, 1,380,527 ballots were returned by absentee ballot; 139,604 ballots were cast early in person; and 1,057,836 ballots were cast on Election Day, for a total voter turnout of 35%.