Judge: Michigan cannot shield how voters cast ballots from public view
A Michigan Court of Claims judge has ruled the state Bureau of Elections cannot deny public access to records that detail the ballot options used by individual voters to cast their ballots.
The bureau changed its policy on responding to requests for that information through the state's Freedom of Information Act following the 2022 election, when voters amended the Michigan Constitution to add an early voting option. The state until recently kept a publicly available list of who voted in person on Election Day and who used an absentee ballot.
The Secretary of State says it could be possible to combine that data with other publicly available information in smaller, low-turnout precincts, to determine the choices individual voters make in an election. That, the elections bureau said, violates the right to a secret ballot.
A right-wing activist, Phani Mantravadi, sued the elections bureau, arguing the state’s redactions violate the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2026-05-05/judge-michigan-cannot-shield-how-voters-cast-ballots-from-public-view