DETROIT – For the first time, Detroit residents voting by absentee ballot will be able to register for the ballots online, the city clerk said Wednesday.
Janice Winfrey, joined by Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson, at a press conference in Detroit announced that the clerk’s office would accept applications for absentee ballots online.
Applications for the ballots have to be provided through a secure form, and across the state applications, generally in person or by mail, though many clerks also accept faxed applications.
The online application for an absentee ballot provided at the Department of State website, for example, says an application can be delivered by mail, in person, by a member of the voter’s immediate family or by a registered voter designated by the applicant.
Voting by absentee ballots grew to 27 percent of the electorate in the 2012 election in Michigan, up from 16.5 percent in the 2002 election.
