Michigan communities holding largely mail-based elections

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — People in about 50 Michigan communities were voting Tuesday, participating in largely mail-based local elections that might be a blueprint for the presidential battleground state in November.

In a first, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office automatically sent absentee ballot applications to all 740,000 registered voters in those municipalities — about 10% of the electorate — to discourage in-person voting in a state where more than 4,000 people have died from coronavirus complications. Turnout was expected to be more than twice than what is typical for May elections.

Voters were deciding school tax, bonding and other proposals.

Benson, a Democrat, said Monday that more than 140,000 people had voted by mail, “demonstrating that even in times of great uncertainty, people want to vote and they want to weigh in on important local issues.”

Each jurisdiction was still required to have at least one place for in-person voting. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March used her emergency powers to expand absentee voting by letting the state mail ballot applications to every voter in roughly 50 jurisdictions and to provide them directly to new registrants.

Whitmer, who is thought to be among contenders to be Joe Biden's running mate in the presidential election, has sparred with President Donald Trump about the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. And Trump has opposed expanding mail-in voting.

Normally in Michigan, it is up to voters to ask their local clerk for an absentee ballot. Some communities let voters request to join a permanent list to get an application every election, while others do not.

Absentee voting already is easier in the state under a 2018 constitutional amendment that lets voters cast an absentee...