Two Local Clerks Being Sued By State Over Absentee Ballots

The city clerk's office in New Buffalo and the Sodus Township clerk's office are among 24 being sued by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson for not sending absentee ballots to military and oversees voters in time. Specifically, the lawsuits are seeking to have the counting deadline for those ballots extended. Clerks are required by law to get those ballots in the mail 45 days before the November election, which would have been September 22. Sodus Township sent two ballots overseas on September 24, while New Buffalo sent one before the deadline and the other on October 10th, which was Wednesday. In a statement, Johnson said the vast majority of local clerks got all of the ballots sent off in time, and the number sent late represented two-percent of the 87-hundred requested statewide before the deadline. Johnson and Schuette note the 38 ballots mailed late were a significant improvement from the 155 that went out late for the August primary election.