Early in-person voting was the most common way to cast a ballot in three Michigan counties in last year’s presidential election and was especially popular in areas that backed Donald Trump.

More than 1.2 million voters used the new option, which gives residents at least nine days of early, in-person voting statewide.

Voters in Barry, Allegan and Kalkaska counties — which overwhelmingly went for Trump — were the biggest fans, casting more than a third of all ballots during the early in-person period, according to new Michigan Secretary of State data.

More than 5.6 million Michiganders voted, or 79% of active voters, during the state’s 2024 presidential election — making Michigan the third highest voter turnout state in the nation last year.

While a majority of Michigan voters utilized absentee (39.2%) and early voting (21%) options, in-person voting on Election Day remained the most popular way to cast a ballot in 66 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Overall, 39.4% of Michigan residents chose to vote on Election Day last November.

Trump fared well in areas that favored Election Day voting, winning all 25 counties where at least half of all voters cast their ballots at traditional polling places.

Voting options

Voting absentee — usually by mail — transcended party lines during Michigan’s 2024 presidential election.

It was the most popular way to vote in 14 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Of those, seven counties went for Trump, a Republican who won the state, and seven went for Democrat Kamala Harris, who was vice president at the time.

Leelanau County, which backed Harris with just over 53% of its vote, had the highest rate of absentee voting at nearly 51% of all ballots. It also had the highest overall turnout, with 89% of eligible voters casting ballots.

Other counties with high rates of absentee ballots included Grand Traverse County, where 46.6% of all ballots cast were absentee — the highest rate of any Trump-supporting county. He narrowly won there.

In Washtenaw County, where Harris won 71% of the vote, nearly 50% of voters cast absentee ballots. In Ingham County, which Harris won with 64% of the vote, nearly 48% of ballots were cast absentee.

According to state data, just more than 25% of active, registered voters have joined the state’s permanent absentee ballot list, meaning they will receive a mail-in ballot for all future elections in which they are eligible to vote.

Total voter turnout

Total voter turnout topped 80% in 21 Michigan counties, led by Leelanau (89%), Livingston (86.4%) and Keweenaw (85.2%).

Overall, Michigan ranked third in the nation for eligible voter turnout, with nearly three-quarters casting a ballot during the November election. That puts Michigan as one of only five states with a higher turnout of eligible voters in 2024 compared to 2020.

Approximately 826,688 Michigan voters also cast their ballots for the first time during the state’s 2024 presidential election, according to the state.

Michigan voters gave the green light to early, in-person voting in November 2022. But whether it made much of an impact in overall turnout during the most recent presidential contest remains to be seen.

November was the first presidential election Michigan with nine days of early, in-person voting available statewide, and 1.2 million residents took advantage of the new law, according to the Secretary of State.

As Votebeat Michigan reported, measuring the impact of any one-state level program is difficult, and early voters typically planned to vote regardless of whether the option was available.

About 255,000 early voters in Michigan hadn’t voted in 2020, according to the state.

This article is being republished through a syndication agreement with Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan is Michigan’s largest nonprofit news service and one of the nation’s leading and largest nonprofit civic news providers. Their coverage is nonpartisan, fact-based, and data-driven. Find them online at  https://www.bridgemi.com/.