More than 40 percent of absentee ballots sent to voters in Detroit have already been returned, sparking concerns about Democrat ballot harvesting among people who remember the suspicious events that plagued the city in 2020. But the data also indicates the return rate spike might have more to do with a decrease in ballots being requested, rather than a significant increase in ballots being returned this early.
Detroit has sent 100,470 absentee ballots and received 41,235 — a 41 percent return rate, according to data released by the secretary of state’s office on Tuesday. At the same point in the 2020 presidential election (Oct. 12), the city had issued 132,879 absentee ballots and only received 34,735 — a 26 percent return rate. An X user affiliated with the group VoteHub pointed out that Detroit’s return rate was in a “league of its own” compared to other jurisdictions in the state.
However, the raw number of people returning ballots this early in Detroit isn’t wildly different than it was this time last presidential election.
“I don’t want to prevent anyone from identifying red flags, but this is kind of standard,” Ashley Hayek, executive director of America First Works, which is conducting voter canvassing in Michigan and elsewhere, told The Federalist.
Of the absentee ballots cast so far in Detroit, 70 percent were also returned more than two weeks before the 2020 election, Hayek said, citing data obtained by America First Works. Sixteen percent of the total were from voters who
