LANSING, Mich. – More than 2.6 million Michigan voters have turned in their absentee ballots and the state is still waiting on almost 700,000 absentee ballots that had been sent out and yet to be returned with only days before Tuesday’s election. Due to changes made in 2018 to voter laws and now growing public health concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, more Michigan residents are voting absentee than ever before. The previous record was set this year in the August primary at 1.6 million absentee ballots. Ingham County saw 30,684 absentee ballots cast in the 2016 election, County Clerk Barb Byrum said in a media call Thursday alongside Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope. “This is a pretty intense election, not that anything will happen on Election Day, but I wouldn't want to put myself in the position,” Briffin said.