Michigan Administrative Code
Department - State
Elections & Campaign Finance
Signature Matching for Absent Voter Ballot Applications and Absent Voter Ballot Envelopes
Section R. 168.25 - Timing of signature review and notification

(1) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is received at least 6 calendar days prior to the election, the clerk must notify the voter of issues with the voter's signature by the end of the next business day following receipt of the application or ballot envelope.

(2) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is received less than 5 calendar days prior to the election, an election official must review that absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope by the end of the calendar day on which the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope was received by the clerk. If the election official determines that the voter's signature on the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope does not agree sufficiently with the signature on file, the election official must contact the voter by the end of the calendar day on which the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope was received by the clerk.

(3) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is received by the clerk by 8 p.m. on the calendar day prior to an election, an election official must review the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope before the end of the calendar day prior to the election. If the election official determines that the voter's signature on the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope does not agree sufficiently with the signature on file, the election official must contact the voter by the end of the calendar day prior to the election.

(4) For the purposes of this rule, if the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope comes into the physical control of the clerk's office before or during the clerk's scheduled business hours, that absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope is considered to have been received by the clerk on the day of submission. If an absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope comes into the physical control of the clerk's office after the end of the clerk's scheduled business hours, or if the absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope comes into the physical control of the clerk's office on a day on which the clerk does not have scheduled business hours, that absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope is considered to have been received on the first subsequent day during which the clerk has scheduled business hours.

(5) If a clerk's jurisdiction maintains one or more absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope drop boxes, each drop box must be checked by an election official for any absent voter ballot applications or absent voter ballot envelopes that have been deposited prior to the end of the clerk's scheduled business hours on every day during which the clerk has scheduled business hours. The election official checking the drop box must retrieve each absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope contained in the drop box at that time. Each absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope retrieved at that time is considered to have been received by the clerk on that day. An absent voter ballot application or absent voter ballot envelope deposited in those drop boxes on a day during which the clerk does not have scheduled business hours will not be considered to have been received by the clerk until the next day on which the clerk has scheduled business hours.

(6) An absent voter ballot envelope that is collected by an election official through the procedure laid out in 764b(4) or (5), 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.764b, shall be considered received when the election official comes into physical possession of the ballot envelope.

(7) Nothing in this rule shall prevent an election official from providing notification more quickly than mandated by this rule to a voter that the voter's absent voter ballot application signature or absent voter ballot envelope signature has been determined not to agree sufficiently with the signature on file.

(8) If the absent voter ballot application or the absent voter ballot envelope is missing the voter's signature, or if the clerk determines that the voter's signature on the absent voter ballot application or on the absent voter ballot envelope does not agree sufficiently with the voter's signature on file, the clerk shall inform the voter using any and all contact information available that their absent voter ballot application or their absent voter ballot envelope is missing a signature or has a non-matching signature, and the need to cure the signature deficiency. The clerk must notify the voter by phone and email, and, in the absence of the voter's email address, by United States mail.