Voter registration deadline approaching for November elections

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Michigan Secretary of State and chief election officer Ruth Johnson is encouraging residents to register to vote before the deadline on Tuesday.

“If you would like to participate in the November election, please register to vote if you have not already done so,” Johnson said in a press release. “It only takes a few moments and then your voice can be heard at the ballot box.”

Voters can register at a city, county or township clerk’s office, by mail, or at any Secretary of State branch office.

Voters must be residents of the township or city they plan to register with, and also be Michigan residents.

Residents can find the mail-in form on the website.

First time voters who want to register by mail must vote in-person, but exceptions are made for first time voters who are 60 years or older, are disabled, are eligible to vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or if the first time voter hand-delivers the application to their local clerk.

Spokesman for Secretary of State Fred Woodhams said students have the option to register in their hometown or at school.

“Certainly, the Secretary of State’s office would encourage people to exercise their right to vote and to offer their voice in a local community,” he said. “People’s votes are their voice, and that’s how citizens are heard.”

Woodhams said throughout the state and Isabella County there will be a number of local elections.

It will mainly be school board and big council-type races, he said.

An absentee ballot is also available to voters, and is available to residence that may not available to vote. The deadline to submit the absentee ballot application is 2 p.m. on Nov. 5. Voters requesting an absentee ballot in person on Nov. 7 must fill them out in the clerk’s office, according to the press release.

Voters will be required to bring identification in the form of a valid photo identification. Voters who don’t bring a valid photo ID can still vote as long as they sign a brief affidavit stating the voter is not on possession of a photo ID.