Unless you are serving in the military or living overseas, your ballot must be received by your local clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day (August 4) to count. After tomorrow, we no longer recommend returning your ballot by mail. Starting on Wednesday (July 22) you should:

• Drop your ballot off at your local clerk’s office or in a secure drop box in your city or township. You can find the location of your clerk’s office(s) and drop box(es) by visiting MI.gov/vote and clicking on “Your voter information.” You can also have an immediate family member (including a father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild) or a person from your household drop your ballot off for you.

• Bring your completed ballot to your early voting site or (if you live anywhere other than Detroit) to your polling place on Election Day and feed it into a tabulator. Just tell the poll workers you’d like to do this when you check in. You can find your early voting site(s) and Election Day polling place by visiting MI.gov/vote and clicking on “Your voter information.”

• If you are unable to drop your ballot off or have an eligible person drop it off for you, you can ask your city or township clerk to pick up your completed ballot. You can use this option as long as your ballot is in the city or township where you are registered to vote and you contact your clerk by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 31. To find the phone number for your city or township clerk, visit MI.gov/vote and click on “Where are my clerk’s offices?”

We encourage you to track your absentee ballot and application by visiting mi.gov/vote and clicking on “Your voter information.” (If there’s no date under a particular step, it means that step is not complete.) You can also sign up to receive ballot tracking notifications by email. To sign up, go to mi.gov/vote and click on “subscribe to ballot notifications.”

Before submitting your completed absentee ballot, be sure to sign your ballot envelope with your official signature, that is, the signature you used for your driver’s license or your voter registration form. If you don’t sign your ballot envelope, your ballot will be rejected.

Upcoming Key Dates for the August 4 Primary Election:

Now: Vote in person, with an absentee ballot, at your city or township clerk’s office. (At this point, we no longer recommend applying for a ballot by mail or online.)

Today (July 20): Last day to register to vote online or by mail in the August 4 Primary Election. (Starting tomorrow (July 21), you’ll need to register in person at your city or township clerk’s office with proof of residency.)

Tomorrow (July 21): For most voters, this is the last day we recommend returning your ballot by mail to avoid delays. (Starting July 22, we recommend returning your ballot in person to your city or township clerk’s office or to a secure drop box in your city or township.) If you’re serving in the military or living overseas, your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day (August 4) and received by Monday, August 10 to count.

July 25: First day of the statewide in-person early voting period. Contact your clerk or visit mi.gov/vote to find out when and where you can vote early in person for the August 4 Primary Election.