Owosso to start counting absentee ballots Nov. 2, a day early

Owosso will start counting its absentee ballots the day before the November election. The city posted notice Thursday that early counting for the Nov. 3, 2026 election will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the Council Chambers at Owosso City Hall, 301 W. Main Street.

Two absent voter counting boards will do the work, with five election inspectors on each, according to the notice. An absent voter counting board is a separate board that opens and tabulates ballots returned by mail or dropped off, rather than running them through a precinct tabulator on Election Day.

The job will not be finished Monday. The notice says counting will continue Tuesday, Nov. 3, "at a time to be determined by the Clerk in light of any remaining returns," and that the location and the number of inspectors stay the same.

The notice also sets a limit on who can watch from the inside. A maximum of two challengers per credentialing organization are permitted at the facility. The city says that number may be cut to one per organization, depending on how many organizations want to be present, "to prevent hindrance of the counting process and maintain the right of challengers to be present." Challengers are observers credentialed by a party or other organization who may formally question how ballots are handled.

This is the second election notice out of City Hall in just over a week. The Current reported Sept. 30 that Owosso set its public accuracy test of the vote-counting equipment for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the City Hall conference room — the pre-election check that the tabulators count a test deck correctly.

What the city still has not said publicly, in either notice, is what Owosso voters will actually decide on Nov. 3, or the deadlines for registering and for requesting and returning an absentee ballot. The Current has had those questions open since Sept. 30. This notice does not answer them, and it does not say how many absentee ballots the city has issued or whether members of the public who are not credentialed challengers may observe the counting.

What happens next: the accuracy test is Oct. 13, early counting begins 9 a.m. Nov. 2 at City Hall, and counting resumes Nov. 3 at a time the city clerk will set.