On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson launched the Michigan Voting Dashboard, an interactive tool that allows the public to access election data by county and jurisdiction with a focus on absentee and early voting.
Secretary Benson announced the new dashboard while speaking in Detroit alongside partners from the Center for Civic Design, who helped design the look and feel of the dashboard, and the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI).
“Democracy works best with an informed and engaged electorate, and I’m very excited today to announce our latest effort to make government more transparent and accessible to the people we serve,” said Secretary Benson. “We know that election misinformation frustrates voters. We also know that official sources of information are more important than ever to help center our conversation on the rule of law, on the truth, and on the security of the system. Making those official sources of information more user-friendly, more accessible, and easier to understand makes them more useful. It prebunks misinformation and builds trust in our elections.”
“Today’s release of the elections data dashboard puts Michigan at the forefront of election data transparency and innovation,” said Whitney Quesenbery, Director of the Center for Civic Design. “Built with cutting-edge design and technology best practices, this dashboard makes election data easily accessible and understandable, while presenting those data beautifully. I am confident that this dashboard will spur further innovation and trust in Michigan’s election administration, and I applaud Secretary Benson for this monumental achievement.”
The dashboard is available online at Michigan.gov/VotingDashboard. Data is posted starting 45 days before each Election Day, reporting the number of absentee ballots requested by voters, the number of absentee ballots completed and returned to be tabulated, and the number of ballots cast at early voting sites. The totals are broken down by county and jurisdictions.
Data on the dashboard is updated daily and is pulled from the state’s Qualified Voter File (QVF). The QVF is the secure database of voters used by the Michigan Bureau of Elections and more than 1,600 election clerks throughout the state. The dashboard will not display information about individual voters to protect their right to ballot secrecy.
Absentee voting is already underway for the General Election. Early in-person voting will begin statewide on Saturday, Oct. 26 but some communities will offer early voting sooner. Visit Michigan.gov/EarlyVoting for the nearest early voting sites with their hours and days of operation.
Eligible Michigan citizens can register to vote online or by mail until Monday, Oct. 21, or in person at their local clerk’s office with proof of residency until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5.
Visit Michigan.gov/Vote for more registration and voting information.
