LANSING, Mich. — The state Senate on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging overhaul of the ways ballots are cast in Michigan, carrying out a constitutional amendment that voters put in place in November.
Senators voted 22-16 in favor of the main proposal in an eight-bill package, which would require at least nine days of early voting across Michigan and allow clerks to work together to provide sites where ballots could be filled out and fed into tabulators before Election Day.
Traditionally, Michigan voters have had to cast ballots in person on Election Day in their precincts or turn in absentee ballots that weren't tallied until Election Day. The new legislation's lead sponsor, state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, labeled it a "generational change in voting" that would "uplift voting rights."
