Michigan early voting hours: sites stay open daily through Sunday, Nov. 1, with 1.55 million ballots already cast

LANSING — Michigan voters who want to skip the Election Day line have four days left to vote early in person.

Early voting sites will stay open through Sunday, Nov. 1, for at least eight hours every day, the Michigan Department of State says, and some communities will add early voting hours on Monday, Nov. 2. Hours and locations differ by city and township; voters can look theirs up at mi.gov/earlyvoting. Polls open on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

This is the first midterm general election in Michigan with early in-person voting available to every voter.

As of Wednesday morning, Oct. 28, 1,552,472 Michigan voters had already cast a ballot, or 20.9% of active registered voters, according to state figures reported by WNEM. That includes 1,265,079 returned mail ballots and 287,393 ballots cast at early voting sites.

Early in-person voting began Saturday, Oct. 24, and drew more than 134,000 voters in its first two days. The state’s count stood at 215,795 on Tuesday morning, so roughly 71,600 more people voted early in person over the next day, by The Mitten Daily’s math.

The Department of State compared mail ballots at the same point, one week before Election Day, with the 2022 midterm. Requests are up about 13.5%, from 1,899,273 in 2022 to 2,154,870 this year. Returned ballots are up a smaller 4.4%, from 1,126,246 to 1,176,375.

By Wednesday, 2,160,260 voters had requested a mail ballot and 1,265,079 had sent it back, a return rate of about 59%. That leaves close to 900,000 requested ballots still out with less than a week to go. More than 2 million voters are on the state’s permanent mail ballot list.

Mail ballots must reach the local clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day to count; a postmark is not enough. With the deadline close, state officials urge voters to use a ballot drop box or hand-deliver the ballot to their clerk rather than mail it. Voters can check whether their ballot arrived at mi.gov/trackballot.

People who are not registered can still register in person at their clerk’s office, with proof of residency, and vote an absentee ballot there in one trip through 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The state’s figures come from voter history entered by clerks, not from vote counts, and say nothing about how anyone voted. Results begin after polls close Tuesday night.

Sources:
Michigan Department of State, “More than 1.39 million Michigan voters have cast their ballot one week before the General Election,” Oct. 27, 2026 (early voting through Nov. 1, eight hours a day, Monday hours, 2022 comparison table, deadlines), https://www.michigan.gov/sos/resources/news/2026/10/27/more-than-1-point-39-million-michigan-voters-have-cast-their-ballot-one-week
WNEM, “More than 1.5 million Michigan voters have cast ballots,” Oct. 28, 2026 (Oct. 28 totals: 1,552,472 ballots, 20.9%, 287,393 early, 2,160,260 requested, 1,265,079 returned), https://www.wnem.com/2026/10/28/more-than-15-million-michigan-voters-have-cast-ballots/
Michigan Department of State, Michigan Voting Dashboard (data source and limits), https://www.michigan.gov/sos/elections/election-results-and-data/voter-participation-dashboard
Photo: Lorie Shaull, “Vote Here sign in Minneapolis, Minnesota (50579345566).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vote_Here_sign_in_Minneapolis,_Minnesota_(50579345566).jpg

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Tags: Michigan · Election 2026 · Early Voting · Absentee Ballots · Secretary of State · Voter Turnout