The first weekend of in-person early voting has officially passed, and more than 10,000 people took advantage.
“Years ago they did not have this,” voter Carolyn Major said. “I think it’s great because a lot of people work and they can’t get here, so therefore, you can do it earlier.”
“We have just over 10,000 people who have already voted in the primary in just the first two days of early voting alone,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said. “We anticipate that number’s going to increase in the days ahead, especially going into next weekend.”
Benson said Primary Election data already shows that people are taking advantage: 6,400 people voted Saturday, and 4,200 more voted on Sunday.
“Well, it’s been great to see citizens start to really embrace early voting,” Benson said. “It’s a new way. It’s a new option to vote, and the more people who do it, the more people hear about it from others who have done it. It’s going to take hold even more.”
But it hasn’t been totally without problems. Over the weekend, state server issues put a brief stop to voting before they were addressed. Officials took care of the problem pretty quickly.
“We quickly addressed that, and we’ll make sure in the future that no other overloads come through when early voting is happening,” Benson said. “But it also enables us to ensure that back-up procedures work, too, and that clerks know how to access them when things do occur.”