§ 168.764aInstructions for absent voters and absent uniformed services voters or overseas

voters.
 Sec. 764a.
    (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the following instructions for an absent voter must be
 included with each ballot or set of ballots furnished an absent voter:
  INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSENT VOTERS
 Step 1. Enclosed you will find voting instructions as to the method of voting. Read these
 carefully and then vote the ballot.
    Step 2. After voting a ballot, place the ballot in the secrecy sleeve, if any. If a secrecy sleeve
 is not provided, refold the ballot to conceal your votes.
    Step 3. If, after voting your absent voter ballot, you wish to take your marked absent voter
 ballot to your polling place on election day, or to an early voting site during the early voting
 period, to personally put your marked absent voter ballot into a tabulator to be counted, skip
 Steps 4 to 7 and proceed to Step 8. If you do not proceed to Step 8, and you wish to return
 your marked absent voter ballot to the clerk, proceed to Steps 4 to 7.
    Step 4. Place the ballot or ballots in the return envelope and securely seal the return
 envelope.
    Step 5. Sign and date the return envelope in the place designated. Your signature must
 appear on the return envelope or the ballot will not be counted. If you are disabled or
 otherwise unable to mark the ballot and required assistance in voting your absent voter ballot,
 have the individual who assisted you complete the section on the return envelope entitled "TO
 BE COMPLETED ONLY IF VOTER IS ASSISTED IN VOTING BY ANOTHER
 INDIVIDUAL".
    Step 6. Deliver the return envelope by 1 of the following methods:
    (a) Deposit the postage prepaid return envelope in the United States mail, or place the
 necessary postage on the return envelope and deposit the return envelope with another public
 postal service, express mail service, parcel post service, or common carrier.
    (b) Deliver the return envelope personally to the office of the clerk, to the clerk, or to an
 authorized assistant of the clerk, or to a secure drop box located in the city or township.
    (c) In either (a) or (b), a member of your immediate family including a father-in-law,
 mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, or



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 grandchild or an individual residing in your household may mail or deliver a ballot to the clerk
 for you.
    (d) You may request by telephone that the clerk who issued the ballot provide assistance in
 returning the ballot. The clerk is required to provide assistance if you are unable to return your
 absent voter ballot as specified in (a), (b), or (c) above, if it is before 5 p.m. on the Friday
 immediately preceding the election, and if you are asking the clerk to pick up the absent voter
 ballot within the jurisdictional limits of the city, township, or village in which you are
 registered. Your absent voter ballot will then be picked up by the clerk or an election assistant
 sent by the clerk. All individuals authorized to pick up absent voter ballots are required to
 carry credentials issued by the clerk. If using this absent voter ballot return method, do not
 give your ballot to anyone until you have checked that individual's credentials.
    Step 7. The ballot must reach the clerk or an authorized assistant of the clerk before the
 close of the polls on election day. An absent voter ballot received by the clerk or assistant of
 the clerk after the close of the polls on election day will not be counted.
    Step 8. This step applies only if, after marking your absent voter ballot, you wish to take
 your marked absent voter ballot to your polling place on election day, or to an early voting site
 during the early voting period, to personally put your marked ballot into a tabulator to be
 counted. Bring your marked absent voter ballot that you placed in the secrecy sleeve under
 Step 2 to your polling place on election day, or to an early voting site during the early voting
 period, and indicate to the election inspectors that you are there to put your marked absent
 voter ballot into the tabulator to be counted. Before tabulating your ballot, you will be required
 to provide identification for election purposes to the election inspectors, or sign an affidavit
 that you do not have identification for election purposes, and complete the ballot application.
  WARNING
 All of the following actions are violations of the Michigan election law and are illegal in this
 state:
     (1) To vote an absent voter ballot at a meeting or gathering at which other individuals are
 voting absent voter ballots.
     (2) For an individual who is assisting an absent voter in marking the ballot to suggest or in
 any manner attempt to influence the absent voter on how that absent voter should vote.
     (3) For an individual who is present and knows that an individual is voting an absent voter
 ballot to suggest or in any manner attempt to influence the absent voter on how that absent
 voter should vote.
     (4) For an individual other than those listed in these instructions to return, offer to return,
 agree to return, or solicit to return an absent voter ballot to the clerk.
     (5) For an individual other than the absent voter; an individual listed in these instructions;
 or an individual whose job it is to handle mail before, during, or after being transported by a
 public postal service, express mail service, parcel post service, or common carrier, but only
 during the normal course of the individual's employment to be in possession of a voted or
 unvoted absent voter ballot.
    (2) The following instruction must be included with the instructions as provided in
 subsection (1) for each absent voter ballot furnished to an absent uniformed services voter or
 overseas voter:
    "For an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter, the absent voter ballot return
 envelope containing a marked absent voter ballot must be postmarked on or before election
 day and must reach the clerk or authorized assistant of the clerk within 6 days after the
 election. If the absent voter ballot return envelope containing an absent voter ballot for an
 absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter is received by mail by the clerk or


                                                                Michigan Compiled Laws Complete Through PA 9 of 2026
Rendered Thursday, April 30, 2026           Page 366 of 478                             Courtesy of legislature.mi.gov

 authorized assistant of the clerk more than 6 days after the election or is postmarked after
 election day, the absent voter ballot will not be counted."
    (3) If a city or township with 250 or more precincts that are subject to the exemption in
 section 765a(1) is unable to program an election day tabulator to accept an absent voter ballot
 in any election in an election year, the appropriate city or township clerk shall provide a
 modified version of the instructions for absent voters under subsection (1) that removes the
 ability of an elector to return the elector's marked absent voter ballot to the elector's election
 day polling place to be tabulated.