GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — More than 5.67 million people voted in Michigan’s presidential election, state officials say.
That’s the highest turnout election in the state’s history, with more than three-quarters of Michigan’s active registered voters participating, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced Wednesday afternoon.
TURNOUT ‘THROUGH THE ROOF’
At a Wednesday morning news conference, Benson said turnout was at least above 5.5 million with some ballots still to be counted.
She said the overall turnout was “through the roof” and she considered it a success.
“It’s easy to remember years before 2020, when turnout was typically under 5 million,” she said.
According to Benson, more than 2 million people voted in person on Election Day, about 1.2 million people voted early in person and about 2.2 million people voted absentee.
She said officials did not expect so many people to vote early in person.
“We, at best, were hoping for maybe half that in our estimates. And to see so many do that showed that our outreach, our education efforts worked,” she said. “And also the convenience of that method was not lost on a lot of voters — voters on both sides of the aisle, by the way.”
Benson also highlighted the nearly 22,000 new voters who registered and then voted on Election Day. She said many were in East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Detroit.
ELECTION DAY PROBLEMS
The secretary of state said Election Day went smoothly overall, though it was “not without incident.”
“We are aware of non-credible bomb threats that targeted some polling locations in Washtenaw, Wayne, Genesee and Saginaw counties,” Benson said. “The FBI has issued statements officially confirming that those were tied to Russia.”
In addition, Benson said a vehicle transporting ballots was involved in a crash in Detroit, but all the ballots were accounted for.
“It didn’t impact any ballots or any valid votes,” she said.
She also referenced “doctored videos” circulating online “with false allegations of widespread voter fraud.”
“The incoming president himself wrongly claimed there was significant law enforcement presence in Detroit and Philadelphia,” she said. “Those false claims were easily debunked.”
Benson emphasized “the professional, tireless work of election officials.”
“May we all continue to stand with them to ensure we remain a country that lives up to that one person, one vote promise embedded in our Constitution,” she said.
TIMING OF RESULTS
Nationwide, Decision Desk HQ on NewsNation and The Hill projected that former President Donald Trump, a Republican, would defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Michigan was one of the last states to be called, with the Associated Press reporting that Trump would win Michigan’s electoral votes around 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Benson said issues with uploading data made unofficial results take longer in some Michigan communities.
“We made clear all along that it would take time for counties to report those unofficial results,” Benson said. “What we saw over the last 12 hours or so was particularly in large counties like Wayne, there were no problems with counting or transmitting those results, and that’s why we knew things had been tabulated. But it did take a very long time to get the data to upload into the county website.”
Benson said some of the final communities to report unofficial results included parts of Wayne County, like Livonia, Dearborn, Inkster and areas of Detroit; and parts of Kalamazoo County, including Kalamazoo and Portage. By the time of the news conference around noon Wednesday, she said there weren’t significant numbers of outstanding results.
