Yes, You Can Still Vote by Mail in Michigan: What Changed This Week and What Hasn’t

The legal fight over new U.S. Postal Service rules for mail ballots has changed quickly this week.

The most important thing for Michigan voters to know is this:

You can still vote by mail in Michigan. Your right to vote absentee has not been eliminated.

But there is now a new federal USPS rule affecting how election officials send and handle ballot mail, and several new court challenges are underway. The situation may continue to change before the November 3 General Election.

What happened at the Supreme Court?

On August 24, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a court order that had blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s March executive order on federal elections and mail voting.

That earlier case was brought by a group of states, including Michigan, before USPS had issued its final mail-ballot rule.

The Supreme Court said the states had challenged the plan too early because the final USPS rule did not yet exist and the states had not yet shown how it would harm them.

The Supreme Court did not decide that the executive order was legal. It also did not decide that the final USPS rule was legal.

The Court made clear that actions taken to put the executive order into effect could still be challenged once they were final.

That distinction is important because that is exactly what is happening now.

What happened to the other court order?

A different lawsuit, brought by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other voting and civil rights organizations, had resulted in a second nationwide court order blocking USPS from putting the new rules into effect.

On August 26, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani lifted that court order as well.

She said the Supreme Court’s reasoning in the earlier case also applied because her original order had been issued before USPS finalized its rule.

Again, that decision did not determine whether the USPS rule itself is legal.

With both earlier court orders lifted, USPS says its new requirements are now in effect.

What does the new USPS rule do?

The final rule was formally published on August 26.

It creates new federal requirements for ballot mail used in elections for federal office. Among other things, it requires election officials to provide USPS with information about voters receiving mail ballots and to use new standards for ballot envelopes and unique barcodes.

USPS says states still decide who is eligible to vote by mail and which ballots are counted. But the new rule gives USPS a role in determining whether outgoing federal ballot mail meets its new mailing requirements before USPS accepts it.

Michigan and other states argue that these requirements interfere with state election administration and could create problems for eligible voters if ballots or ballot envelopes do not meet the new federal standards.

New lawsuits now challenge the final rule

This is where the current court cases are different from the case the Supreme Court considered on August 24.

The Supreme Court case dealt with whether states could challenge the executive order before USPS had finished creating its rule.

The new challenges are aimed at the actual final USPS rule that now exists.

Michigan and other states filed a new lawsuit

On August 26, Michigan joined a multistate lawsuit challenging the final USPS rule.

This is a new lawsuit, even though many of the same states were involved in the earlier case that reached the Supreme Court.

The states argue that the final rule exceeds USPS authority, interferes with states’ constitutional role in administering elections, conflicts with federal law, and creates major costs and logistical problems shortly before the November election.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have also emphasized that Michigan voters continue to have a constitutional right to vote by mail.

The states have asked the federal court to block the rule while the new case is being decided.

Voting-rights groups renewed their challenge

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and other organizations involved in the separate lawsuit have also updated their case now that the final USPS rule exists.

They are asking the court for an emergency order to stop USPS from using the rule for the November election.

Their earlier court order was lifted because the rule had not been final when the case began. Their new claims now address the final rule itself and the specific ways they argue it could affect voters, election officials, and organizations doing voter outreach.

Other challenges are also moving forward

Campaign Legal Center and its partners have also added new claims against the finalized USPS rule in a separate federal case.

That means there are now several legal challenges moving at the same time.

None of these new challenges has been decided by the Supreme Court.

They are currently moving through federal district courts. It is possible that some of these issues could eventually return to the Supreme Court, but that has not happened yet.

What does this mean for Michigan voters?

Michigan voters can still vote absentee and can still choose to return an absentee ballot by mail.

Michigan’s state constitutional right to absentee voting has not been removed by the Supreme Court decision or the USPS rule.

Under Michigan law:

• All registered voters may vote by absentee ballot without giving a reason.
• Eligible voters may request an absentee ballot or receive one automatically if they are on Michigan’s permanent mail ballot list.
• Voters may return an absentee ballot by mail.
• Voters may also return their ballot directly to their city or township clerk or use a secure ballot drop box.
• During early voting, voters may bring a completed absentee ballot to their assigned early voting site and insert it directly into a tabulator.
• Voters can track their absentee ballot at mi.gov/vote.

Because the USPS rules and court cases are changing quickly, voters who choose to return a ballot by mail should send it as early as possible and track it to make sure their clerk receives it.

Michigan voters also have return options that do not depend on the mail, including clerk offices, secure drop boxes, and assigned early voting sites.

There is more to come

This situation is still changing.

The Supreme Court’s August 24 ruling did not settle whether the federal government has the legal authority to impose these new mail-ballot requirements.

Now that USPS has issued its final rule, courts are being asked to decide those questions directly.

A federal judge has scheduled further proceedings in the new challenges, and plaintiffs are asking for emergency relief before states begin sending large numbers of ballots for the November election.

VAAC will continue following the cases and sharing information as the situation develops.

For now, do not assume that voting by mail has gone away. Michigan voters still have the right to vote absentee and to return absentee ballots by mail.

Visit mi.gov/vote to check your registration, request or track an absentee ballot, find your clerk, and get current information about voting in Michigan.