by: WOODTV.com staff
PHOTO: Kent county clerk Lisa Posthumus-Lyons
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As the sun rose across Michigan Wednesday, votes continue to be tallied for an election that happened in the midst of a global pandemic, increased calls for racial equity in policing and an often bitter partisan divide across the nation.
According to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, hundreds of thousands of ballots in the state’s largest jurisdictions are still being counted Wednesday morning.
Benson told CNN that there will be a “much more complete picture” by the end of the day.
Early estimates from the Secretary of State's office put the total number of votes cast statewide above 5 million, more than 3.26 million of which were cast absentee.
Regardless of the final totals, what’s clear is that Michigan has handily surpassed its previous absentee record of 1.6 million, which was set in August.
Across the state, clerks continued to stress that it is going to take longer than usual for election results to come in, primarily due to the huge number of absentee ballots that clerks have to count.
Michigan lawmakers approved extra time Monday for local clerks to prepare those ballots.
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