• Governor, Lt. Governor
• Secretary of State
• Attorney General
• Representative in Congress (16 districts)
• State Senator (38 districts)
• State Representative (110 districts)
• State Board of Education (2 seats)
• University of Michigan Regents (2 seats)
• Michigan State University Regents (2 seats)
• Wayne State University Governors (2 seats)
• Justice of the Supreme Court
• Judge of the Court of Appeals
• Judge of the Circuit Court
• Judge of the District Court
• Judge of Probate
• Specified County, City, Township and Village Offices

You are qualified to vote if:
 

• You are a citizen of the United States
• You are at least 18 years of age on or before the day of election at which you seek to vote.
• You have been a resident of Michigan for at least 30 days before the election.
• You have registered to vote on or before the close of registration preceding the election at which you seek to vote.

• By law your residence is the place where you habitually sleep, keep your personal effects and have your regular place of lodging (Service People, U.S. Government Employees, the families of both, and citizens outside U.S. territorial limits may register in the community of their last legal residence).

Does everyone have to register to be eligible to vote?

• Yes

• At the office of your county, city, township, or village clerk.
• Any other registration locations established by the local clerk.

• Secretary of State driver's license office
• Secretary of State "renewal by mail"
• State and federal mail-in forms
• NOTE: Voters using mail-in registration forms must vote in person the first time they vote!

• Social Services local offices
• Public Health local offices
• Vocational Rehabilitation offices
• Mental Health adult psychiatric hospitals
• Armed forces recruiters
• Federal Post Card Application (FPCA)

Change of Address?

• If you change your address within a city, township or village, the clerk should be notified so that you may be placed in a proper precinct. However, you will not lose your vote if you do not do so. A change of address card will be made out at the old polling place at the time you vote if you do not notify the clerk of the change prior to election day.
• Change of address can also be made at the Secretary of State Branch Office. The change of address may be made by mail as well as in person.

• Any name change due to marriage or legal action may be reported to the clerk by:
• Mail
• In Person
• At the Secretary of State Branch Office
• A person changing name should re-register, but may vote under former name.

• For the August 4th Primary Election in 1998, the last day for registration is July 6th, during regular business hours.
• For the November 3rd General Election in 1998, the last day for registration is October 5th, during regular business hours.

Where do I vote?

• Each voter must cast their ballot at the polling place designated to serve the precinct in which they reside. If you are in doubt as to the location of this polling place you should check with the clerk of your city, township or village.

• The first step in casting a ballot involves signing your name, current address, and date of birth on the poll list (application for ballot). Your signature on the application will be compared with your signature on the registration card. If a computer list is used, then birth dates on the application and the list will be compared.

• Detailed instructions for the proper method of casting your vote are posted in each precinct. If added help is needed, ask the election inspectors.

• If you tear, soil, or erroneously mark a ballot, you may return it to the precinct officials and another ballot will be given to you. Before you return the spoiled ballot, be sure to conceal any mark you have made on it.

• Any voter who requires assistance to vote because of blindness, physical disability or inability to read or write may be given assistance. Any person of the voter's choice (Federal Law) may assist except their employer, officer of their union or an agent of either. Two election inspectors (Michigan Law) who have expressed an affiliation for different political parties shall give assistance if the voter has no one to assist when assistance is requested.

• Federal Law requires that every precinct be made accessible to the handicapped and all persons over 60 years of age. Where regular voting equipment cannot be made accessible, then an alternative ballot must be provided at the precinct. Most precincts are equipped with special booths which permit the elderly and handicapped to be seated while voting.

What is the difference between a primary and a general election?

• In a primary election the members of each party nominate candidates of their party for the general election. Also conducted are nonpartisan primaries where the list of candidates exceeds more than twice the number to be elected. In a general election all voters elect officials from the party nominees and independent candidates.

• Under Michigan Law you do not have to make a choice until you enter the voting station.
• You may vote the primary ballot of any political party but vote for candidates of one political party only. If you vote in more than one partisan section of the ballot, the partisan ballot will be rejected.

You may vote by absentee ballot if you:

• Expect to be absent from the community in which registered for the entire time the polls are open on election day.
• Are physically unable to attend the polls without the assistance of another.
• Cannot attend the polls because of the tenets of your religion.
• Have been appointed an election precinct inspector in a precinct other than the precinct where you reside.
• Are 60 years of age or more.
• Cannot attend the polls because of confinement in jail awaiting arraignment or trial.

• By contacting the clerk of your municipality, in the case of a state primary or general election, the city or township clerk. Contact the village clerk (for village elections only) if that is where you reside. State a statutory reason (listed above), tell where the ballot must be mailed or delivered, give your present registered address and sign the request. Absentee Ballots can be mailed only to registration address or an address outside the community.
• Each person who desires an absentee ballot must sign the request as ballots are sent or delivered only to those who sign.
• Application can be made for one election only or for the primary election and general election which follows on one form.Applications may not be accepted sooner than 75 days preceding the primary election.
• Warning: No Absentee Voter Ballots will be supplied through telephone requests.

• Letter
• Post Card
• In person at the clerk's office
• Application form obtained from your local clerk Federal Post Card Application. NOTE: This is restricted to:
• Members of the Armed Forces (Merchant Marines) and their spouses and dependents.
• U.S. Citizens temporarily living or traveling outside of the territorial limits of the United States.

• Application must be made by 2:00 p.m. on the Saturday preceding the election.
• If after the deadline is passed and it is found an Absente Ballot is required, the elector may 90 to the clerk's office on any working day up to 4 p.m. of the day preceding election. Both application and voting the ballot will occur at this time in the clerk's office.

• Public postal service, express mail service, parcel post service, or other common carrier.
• Personally deliver it to your clerk or an assistant of the clerk
• Have an immediate family member mail or deliver it to the clerk or an assistant of the clerk.
• Have another person living in your household mail or deliver it to the clerk or an assistant of the clerk.
• If none of the above are available to you, another registered voter may deliver your application to the clerk but must sign an authorizing certificate.