By Matthew Scheidel
Today is the last day to register to vote for the upcoming midterm elections in November.
According to the Michigan Secretary of State, individuals can register to vote by filling out a voter registration application. Voter registration applications can be picked up at your local Secretary of State branch office, local county, city, or township clerk’s office, offices of several state agencies – like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Community Health and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs – military recruitment centers, voter registration drives or online at www.Michigan.gov/SOS.
A physical application can be submitted to the local city or township clerk’s office. The city or township clerk’s office will then process the voter registration application.
For absentee voting, voters must submit their request by 2 p.m. the Saturday before the election. The midterm elections will take place on Nov. 6. Citizens must be registered voters to request an absent voter ballot.
Kent County Elections Director Gerrid Uzarski said that the Elections Office has taken an incredible volume of voter registrations on Tuesday alone.
“Today’s numbers rival the numbers prior the 2016 presidential election,” Uzarski said.
According to state voting records, there are 453,648 registered voters in Kent County as of Sept. 14, 2018. During the last presidential election in 2016, there was a 63 percent turnout rate.
During the last gubernatorial election in 2014, there was a 41.6 percent turnout rate.
For more information on how to vote in Michigan, check Kent County’s Michigan Voter Information Center online. There, voters can find polls locations, statewide ballot proposals, sample ballots, candidate information and more.
