Thousands of absentee voters in 3 Lansing-area townships sent wrong instructions

LANSING - Absentee voters in at least three local communities were mistakenly sent instructions on how to vote a straight-party ticket in the Nov. 6 election, even though straight-ticket voting is not an option.

Officials in Delhi, Delta and Meridian townships acknowledged sending outdated ballot-marking instructions but said they have since corrected the problem.

The problem is related to a recent court ruling that a ban on straight-ticket voting would be in effect for the general election. Municipal clerks had already started prepping for the election when the ruling came down, and some sent out absentee ballots with the outdated instructions.   

"We changed some things, but we missed that one," Delta Township Clerk Mary Clark said. "We just made a mistake."

About 5,000 ballots were mailed before the problem was discovered, she said. The township sent postcards to all of those voters, saying they could get a replacement ballot if they believed they had filled out their ballot incorrectly, she said.

Delhi Township Clerk Evan Hope said he ordered updated instructions but inadvertently included the outdated instructions with some absentee ballots.  

"I didn't doublecheck them when they arrived, and that is my fault," Hope said in an email. "We've heard from one resident asking where the straight party option was (on the ballot)."

In Meridian Township, about 5,000 ballots were sent before the problem was discovered, most of them with the incorrect instructions, officials said.

Clerk Brett Dreyfus blamed a vendor for sending the incorrect instructions but acknowledged his office should have caught it before mailing absentee ballots.

"We counted on the printer to be compliant, (but) we did not proof it, and that was our mistake," Dreyfus said Tuesday. "We normally check for typos, but we assumed the instructions would be compliant with state law. I do take responsibility, and this will not happen again."

Until recently, the fate of Michigan's straight-ticket voting option had been up in the air.

In early September, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a ruling by a federal judge in Detroit that would have overturned a 2016 law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to ban straight-ticket voting in Michigan.

In a 2-1 vote, the appeals panel granted a motion by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to stay the ruling while the appeal continues.

Voters can still vote for only one party, but instead of marking one box, they'll have to go through the entire partisan section of the ballot and vote for every candidate they want to elect.

Meridian Township noted the error in a posting on its website, reminding voters there is no straight-ticket option on the November ballot. It did not send corrected instructions to those who had already received an absentee ballot by mail because it wasn't necessary, Dreyfus said.

Regardless of what the instructions might say, there is no straight-ticket option on the ballot, and there's "no way for a voter to spoil or cause their ballot to become invalidated," he said.

Hope agreed, saying "there really is no way" for someone to invalidate their ballot because of the instructions. Except for the information about straight-party voting, the instructions are valid, he said. 

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.