If, like me, you’ve been reading about the Trump Administration’s troubling attacks on the U.S. Postal Service and are concerned the cuts may be an attempt to suppress voting, I have good news for Michigan voters: You have options that will ensure your vote will be counted in this crucial election. 

Several options, actually. 

Voting on Election Day 

Voters still have the traditional option of voting at their assigned polling location on Election Day, which is November 3rd.  This remains an important and popular option for many voters. In fact, nearly 900,000 voters (almost 43% of those who voted in the August primary election) voted at their polling location.  The ACLU has worked hard this year to protect the right to vote in person at your polling location, and will continue to do so. 

If you go to the polls, you’ll find poll workers equipped with personal protective equipment to protect their safety and yours.  Poll workers will also be cleaning and sanitizing the voting equipment. 

Remember, if you aren’t registered to vote or need to update your registration address, you can do that up to 8 p.m. on Election Day.  Just go to your city or township clerk’s office or satellite office with proof of residency. 

Voting By Mail

Thanks to Proposal 3, the ballot measure the ACLU of Michigan and its allies placed on the ballot and helped pass in 2018, absentee voting has been expanded to allow every registered voter the right to vote without having to show up at the polls.  And many across Michigan are choosing this option.  In fact, more than 2.2 million Michigan voters have already requested their ballot for November.  And those ballots are starting to go in the mail to voters now.   

If you haven’t done so already, you can still apply to have your ballot mailed to you.   Go to the Michigan Secretary of State website and apply for an absentee ballot.   For your mail-in ballot to count, it must arrive at your city/township clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day.  

If you do want to vote by mail, my advice is don’t delay. This election is far too important to put off obtaining your ballot.  Apply today, fill your ballot out as soon as it arrives and then mail it in asap – certainly no later than Oct. 20.  After that date, drop it off at your city or township clerk’s office or a secure drop box provided by your clerk to be sure it arrives in time to be counted. 

In-Person Early Voting 

There is a way, however, to avoid having to go to the polls on Election Day and any possibility that your mail-in ballot arrives too late to be counted because of delays caused by cuts to the Postal Service. 

Many people don’t realize that they also have the option to vote early at their city or township clerk’s office – or one of the satellite offices opening in many jurisdictions across the state.  

In fact, you can go into the office, register to vote, obtain a ballot, fill it out and hand it in all in the same visit. By voting early like this, you can feel secure in knowing that, no matter what, your voice will be heard and your vote will count.   

You can go vote early at your city or township clerk’s office starting this Thursday, September 24.  And you can do so right up to 4 p.m. the day prior to the election.  But don’t wait.  Be one of the first to cast your ballot in the November election. 

If you want to find out where your clerk’s office is, or if there is a satellite office in your community, the Secretary of State website is again the place to go.  

This year especially, it is more important than ever for as many people as possible to engage in this type of early voting. Because of concerns about recruiting enough poll workers to adequately staff the polls on Election Day, attacks on the Postal Service and all the other noise, we need to do everything possible to make sure things run as smoothly as possible this election season.  

So, there you have it. The options are there for you to vote in a way that is most comfortable. The key thing is that you find the way that works best for you, and then do it. 

Democracy is counting on you. 

When the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration released a report earlier this year recommending sweeping changes to the state’s criminal legal system – changes the ACLU of Michigan’s Smart Justice campaign has been pushing for nearly three years to dismantle a system that locks up far too many people, especially Black people – proponents of reform had reason to be optimistic.

The comprehensive composition of the Task Force, which includes judges, law enforcement, prosecutors, and victims’ rights advocates, as well as public defenders, politicians and advocates for incarcerated people, gave hope that legislators on both sides of the aisle would embrace the group’s recommendations and begin passing laws addressing the devastating problem of mass incarceration in our state.

On Wednesday, when the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on one of the first of several packages of bills prompted by the Task Force report, the diversity of groups supporting the legislation reinforced the belief that the push for reform is coming from across the political spectrum.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative nonprofit that champions free-market economic policy, and Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, both voiced support for the bills, which would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for a variety of misdemeanors.

Also, on board are the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association and Safe & Just Michigan, which works to advance policies that will end Michigan’s overuse of incarceration and promote community safety and healing.

The ACLU of Michigan, which worked with the Task Force from the outset, supports the legislation as well. These and other reform efforts align with our Smart Justice campaign, which aims to cut mass incarceration in half and eliminate racism in the criminal legal system.

Kimberly Buddin is the Policy Counsel for the ACLU of Michigan and heads the Smart Justice campaign. She notes that the package of legislation – House Bills 5844, 5854, 5855, 5856, and 5857 – are a crucial first step in the right direction. The bills address a wide variety of crimes, ranging from truancy and driving while impaired to hunting offenses and driving a snowmobile or boat while under the influence of alcohol.

According to the Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation, decades of evidence show that lengthy, mandatory sentences do not reduce crime, but impose high economic and social costs on taxpayers and families. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws also tend to create unwarranted disparities by treating offenses inconsistently. FAMM believes that judges should have the authority to consider all the relevant facts and circumstances of a crime and an individual before imposing a fair punishment.

Buddin adds that ending mandatory sentencing laws, even for misdemeanors, is a crucial piece of the reform puzzle the Legislature is trying to piece together to reduce mass incarceration and overhaul our pretrial system that, among other things, gives judges more discretion in sentencing.

“Mandatory sentences tie judge’s hands, preventing them from considering the unique circumstances of a person’s case such as their role, motivation, or likelihood that they will continue to commit crimes,” said Ms. Buddin. “This approach to sentencing is unfair as and ineffective at reducing criminal behavior because it is not consistently applied.”

Diana Prichard, community engagement director for Americans for Prosperity-Michigan, also provided written testimony to the committee urging it to pass this package of bills as a springboard to more reform.

“Taken on their own, they are a vital first step in creating a justice system that lives up to its name, but when taken with the other bills in the task force’s packages they have tremendous potential to transform the future of our state,” wrote Ms. Prichard.

The bills are expected to be voted out of committee next week. The Senate is expected to hold hearings on another set of critical Task Force bills later this month addressing sentencing, probation, and case initiation all of which work toward the ACLU of Michigan’s Smart Justice goals of dismantling racism in the criminal legal system and finding alternatives to incarceration. The legislature has just 26 days left in this session to pass these bills and others critical to overhauling our criminal legal system. Call on your state legislator today to pass these bills that will help end mass incarceration and eliminate racism in the criminal legal system.