(WXYZ) — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said more than 1 million Michiganders have already voted in the 2024 presidential primary.
Related: 2024 Michigan Presidential Primary: What you need to know for Tuesday
Speaking to the media on Monday, just one day before the official primary, Benson gave an update about early in-person voting and absentee ballots, and the turnout the state has seen so far. Hear from Benson in the video below.
According to Benson, Michigan is seeing a 13% higher pre-election day turnout than we saw in 2020, despite both parties having leading candidates in the election.
"It really is a reflection of voter enthusiasm and of Michigan’s expanded voting options," Benson said.
This year was the first year that Michigan had early, in-person voting, after a proposal was passed in 2022 expanding voting options. Under the new rules, Michigan has to offer nine days of early, in-person voting for eight hours per day, starting two Saturdays before election day and ending the Sunday before election day. This year, early voting kicked off Saturday, Feb. 17 and ended Sunday, Feb. 25.
According to Benson, more than 78,000 votes were cast during the nine-day early voting period across the state.
Of those, close to 20,000 votes were cast in the final weekend, and the highest turnout in one day was on Sunday, Feb. 25 when more than 11,000 people cast an early vote.
For absentee ballots, Benson said more than 927,000 Michiganders have completed and submitted their vote. That's a higher absentee ballot number than the 2020 primary, according to Benson.
She said that the state is already approaching half of the total turnout for the 2020 primary before the actual election day. In 2020, nearly 2.4 million citizens voted.
Between in-person and absentee voting, 30% of active registered voters have cast their vote, according to Benson.
