What happens after you submit your ballot?

WEST OLIVE, MI – A 19-year-old University of Michigan student from China now faces criminal charges related to voting as a non-U.S. citizen.

At the on-campus early voting center, the student used her university ID to register, providing proof of residency in Ann Arbor.

They signed proof of U.S. citizenship and submitted a ballot.

Since that ballot had already been entered into the tally counter by the time his citizenship was questioned, his vote would be counted.

FOX 17 spoke with Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck on Thursday to learn more about what happens after you cast your ballot.

“The multiple options that voters have have absolutely increased the challenges for conducting elections,” Roebuck said Thursday. “But at the end of the day, this is a great opportunity. This is a great opportunity for our constituents to be able to make their voices heard.”

Once you place your ballot in the tabulator, it goes into a sealed and secure compartment: the ballot box.

This applies to early voters who show up to physically return their ballots, as well as anyone who casts a traditional ballot on Election Day.

This box is eventually emptied on election night, after the polls close.

The bipartisan group empties the ballot box in a public place, allowing observers and members of the public to witness. The ballots are then placed in a secure container, sealed with a tamper-evident seal, and the seal number is recorded.

Ballots are kept for 22 months, as required by law.

To ensure security and privacy, ballots are tracked using numbered counterfoils that are removed before voting. This allows election officials to check the number of ballots received and the number of ballots remaining.

“The beauty of the secret ballot is that we really don’t know anything,” Roebuck explained. “We do not have a method that uses a secret ballot process, and we would not want this to tie a voter’s name to a physical ballot.”

Voter registration can occur until 8:00 pm on Election Day and will require photo identification and proof of residence.

Federal law states that election officials cannot require a person registering to provide documented proof of their U.S. citizenship.

If someone does not have a Michigan driver’s license, they must sign an affidavit confirming that they are in fact a US citizen.

“A voter under a five-year felony is required to self-certify that he or she is of legal voting age and is a U.S. citizen,” Roebuck says. “For a non-citizen, this is a truly serious crime and will ultimately result in deportation upon conviction.”

Michigan voters have different options for returning early voting ballots:

• Physically bring him to the early voting place
• Leave it at the clerk’s office or mailbox.

Visit michigan.gov/vote To:

• Check registration status
• Find polling places and opening hours
• View sample ballots

In Ottawa County, you can also check wait times at early voting centers using the line management tool on miottawa.org/earlyvoting.

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