Well, with just a few more days before the general election, voters have a lot on their minds.

We all know that next Tuesday, our country will elect a new president of the United States.

And across Michigan officials are working to ensure voter safety while diligently protecting one of the most sacred rights as US citizens.

To talk more about the overall process and address concerns, we have Kyla Stepp and Andrea LaFontaine, both faculty members with Central Michigan University.

Kyla and Andrea, thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks for having us.

- Now you guys are both experienced in the political arena, Andrea having been an an elected official in the past, Kyla teaching law and politics here at CMU.

Well, I'm curious, and Andrea, you of course also teach here.

I'm curious, what are your conversations in the classroom like recently?

- Sure, I'll go first.

It's really exciting.

It's like the buzz is like palpable.

Students seem super, super engaged, which I love.

We always love when students are engaged in the classroom, but even more so during an election year.

- Sure, how about you Kyla?

- Yeah, the same.

I mean the students really are paying attention.

They're asking questions every day.

Did you see this in the news?

Did you see that?

I've had students flat out ask me, "How do I register to vote," right?

"Am I registered back at home with my parents," or "Can I register to vote here in Michigan?"

- Yeah.

- Being as Michigan's such an important swing state, some of them are not from important swing states.

- Yeah.

- So yes, having these conversations on a daily basis with students has been great.

- And what do you think... What are some of their top concerns and issues, you know, going into this election cycle?

- I mean, I think that they share a lot of the same concerns that people their age have all over the country, at least from what I have seen.

Issues about, certainly, the economy, right, inflation, the same type of issues we see.

- Yeah.

- Everyone concerned with.

But also issues surrounding reproductive rights.

Climate change certainly is something that seems to come up quite often.

Gun control, you know, they're acutely aware of everything going on, school shootings, so many of them.

- Yeah.

- Some of them had school shootings or were adjacent to school shootings where they went to high school and so that comes up quite often.

- Yeah.

- So those are the types of issues that they ask me about and we talk about most often, at least that I've seen.

- In class last week, we went through and I asked 'em to rank their primary and secondary issues that motivate them to get out and vote.

And it was all the ones that Dr. Stepp just listed, you know, abortion, basic human rights.

They brought up integrity and respect just as characteristics of candidates, which I thought was really, really important.

- Absolutely, so then bigger picture, you know, from the classroom to kind of statewide, you mentioned Michigan being a battleground state, we always seem to be, and why is that?

Why is Michigan always considered to be a battleground state?

- I think because we pay attention.

We're constantly evolving.

We have smart voters here who are like every single election matters and counts.

And I personally think it's great.

I love when candidates come here and pay attention to Michigan.

And I always say like Michigan matters.

Like we are here, people want our votes, and they're gonna work for 'em.

- Yeah, absolutely, you're right.

And Michigan, we are seeing those candidates making those stops here almost daily.

Well, going back to integrity, after the 2020 election, we heard obviously a lot about the integrity of the election process.

So what kind of steps are being taken now to ensure every vote is counted and every vote is legal?

- I mean, I would say honestly the same steps has happened before, perhaps now with a bit more transparency, so hopefully people understand the process.

Especially here in Michigan, it's always been a very safe process.

We have passed laws in recent years that help open up the ability of people to vote.

We now have early voting, we have same day registration for people who need it.

We have new rules now about poll watchers and things like that.

So I think maybe helping people be more aware.

So an awareness campaign certainly has...

I've seen that.

And that should hopefully help educate people that it is a safe, secure process.

- You mentioned for someone who is not registered to vote and they go to their local polling station, can they still cast a ballot or will it be denied?

- So they can do a couple things.

First, they should be directed to their local township clerk where they can register.

- Okay.

- You can't register at the polling location unless the polling location happens to be the same place as the township clerk's office.

But typically, you know, the clerk's office will be open all day.

You can go there, you can register to vote, and then you can cast a ballot while you're there as well.

- Okay.

- It's technically an absentee ballot, but it works the same way.

So yes, you can register right up until 8:00 PM when the polls close, you can register the same day.

It does make it a little trickier.

There'll probably be lines.

- Yeah.

- But yes, you can register the same day.

- Right, because I believe the deadline to be a registered voter had passed already.

Is that right?

- You mean to to be able to get an absentee ballot?

- Yes.

- Yes, yes.

- All right, got it.

- So there are deadlines in place for how early you have to request an absentee ballot, that sort of thing.

But in order to vote in person, you can go right up to the day.

- Got it, okay, good to know.

What do you need to have with you before you cast your ballot?

- So you have to have, there are basic requirements, right, ID with you, you need to know where you're going probably.

And then I always say you also have to have like your plan to vote, right?

Because you wanna have some sort of basic understanding of what's on the ballot and what would be most helpful.

But definitely having that ID and knowing where you're going.

You don't have to have your voter registration card.

They can look all that up in their system when you get there.

If you do wanna bring it with you, it is helpful, but- - Can you look up a ballot before you go to vote?

- Yes, yes, you can.

- And where do you go?

- Secretary of State's website or just Google how to find my ballot near me.

They might direct you to your local county clerk's website and you can pull it up there.

You put your address in, and then it'll give your sample ballot for that election cycle.

- Got it, okay, now for someone who technically cannot vote, what happens when someone's vote is challenged?

- So if someone's vote's challenged... First of all, there's very specific rules on who can challenge and for what reasons they can challenge.

So typically, it has to be, they have to challenge the person's identification or the fact that they haven't...

Someone could challenge, "Oh, you already voted absentee, so you can't show up in person and vote as well," but you can't challenge for not being able to speak English, for example, or for kind of looking suspicious or there's lots and lots of reasons why you can't challenge.

There's also rules in place against voter intimidation.

Also, the challengers can't directly interact with the voters at all.

They have to tell the supervisor on site who then has to deal with the challenge.

A worst case scenario while the challenge is being played out, if they can't figure out the details right then and there, the person can cast a provisional ballot, which will then be just as legal as the normal ballot.

Once everything is sorted out later, the person can provide their ID, right, or whatever the issue is.

So most times, the challenge is resolved right then, the person can still vote.

If not, a provisional ballot is provided, that will be counted later if they can provide that information within six days.

- Okay, in Michigan, and I imagine in a few other states, a few candidates are going to appear on the ballot, but they're no longer running, for example, Robert Kennedy.

How does someone navigate that?

- [Andrea] Do you wanna talk about like the legalese side of that, 'cause there was recently like a court case.

- Okay, yeah, sure.

Certainly, people can still...

They can vote for anyone on the ballot.

They can write people in.

So legally, it would still be a vote cast.

It's more of kinda the philosophical, if someone is not officially running, even if he got the most votes, it would not matter.

So yes, it's more of a what effect it might have on the race as opposed to I think the legal aspects of it.

- Okay, I think that's also why you see those candidates throwing their endorsements out there for other candidates trying to persuade voters like, "Hey, don't cast your vote for me.

Cast 'em for this person instead."

But the name is still on there.

- Yeah, absolutely.

All right, you mentioned a little bit about voter intimidation, but let's talk a little bit about voter etiquette.

We live in a very selfie world, right?

But when you're at the polls, can you post a photo of you and your ballot on social media?

- No.

(laughs) - No.

- No, don't do it.

No selfies allowed.

The only thing you can do is take a photo of your ballot, the ballot itself in the polling booth itself, but you can't post it until you're at least 100 feet outside of the polling place.

So it's the same kind of electioneering rules apply to that as if you were gonna wear a candidate's name on your shirt or something like that, a campaign for someone.

So your face can't be in there with the ballot.

You certainly can't take photos of other people, other people's ballots.

Even the election challengers can't take photos of anything.

Technically, you're not even supposed to use your cell phone while you're in the ballot box, the booth, other than to take a photo of your ballot without you in it.

- I got it, well, that was gonna be... You already answered all of my questions.

No, you cannot post photos of other people at the polls, and no, you should not be on your phone while casting your ballot.

- And I really think it's for the voter's best interest as well, right?

- Sure.

- It's protecting that integrity and the secrecy of the ballot and the decorum of the polling place.

- And to help with potential voter intimidation and things like that, right?

- Speaking of, if someone feels threatened or intimidated, what are their options?

- Well, they should tell whoever the supervisor at the site is, right, the kind of the head person there.

They actually have training for how and when to contact law enforcement if it comes to that point.

So in law enforcement, local law enforcement will have training as well how to deal with voter intimidation or threats at the polling place.

So there is a system in place.

You just need to make sure that you tell the supervisor on site if you feel threatened at all or intimidated.

- Sure, sure.

This year, like any other election, we have a lot of first time voters.

What advice do you have for someone who just turned 18 and is going to vote in this election?

- I would say do your homework in advance, know your plan, really look at your ballot because there might be some things on there that maybe you weren't thinking about.

And there are always names and know that you don't have to fill in every part of your ballot if you feel uncomfortable.

But really making that plan, knowing before you go kind of what you're gonna do when you get there.

And if anything feels off, like there are people, poll workers are trained and there are supervisors on site to help navigate through all that.

Everything that you need to know is also posted outside of the polling location too, so you can get a feel while you're there.

- All right, yeah.

We're gonna go back to this, we talked a little bit about it earlier, but what's the difference between early voting, absentee voting, and mail-in voting?

- So, early voting is relatively new and this opens up in-person voting for a period of time.

At least nine days, it can be more, potentially, before election day.

So it allows people who have to work on election day or who otherwise can't vote on that day.

Maybe people who missed the deadline to get their absentee ballot, it allows them to still show up and vote in person and just have to do it at their local clerk's office.

There are certain rules about how often they have to be open and that sort of thing.

So that's just showing in person in voting, whereas an absentee ballot, you get it in the mail, you fill it out, you can either mail it back, you can put it in a ballot drop box, or you can take it in-person to your clerk's office and they'll, you know, stick it in the machine just like they would if they got it from the mail.

So yeah, all different ways to be able to vote if you can't show up at the polls on election day.

Super helpful for people who either have to work that day or don't wanna wait in long lines.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And then how are all those votes counted?

- They're counted typically through a tabulator, is how it works.

If you do early in-person voting, you can go and it's as if...

It's what's happening same like on election day, right?

You go to your early in-person voting site, which isn't always your typical poll location.

So you wanna look that up before you go.

And then you fill out your ballot and you actually can put it into the tabulator that day.

If you're voting absentee, those absentee ballots then get collected by the clerk's office and they may have an AV counting board where they're tabulating them at the same time, but all votes are usually tabulated through the tabulator that's on site.

- All right.

What role do elected state officials play in ensuring free and fair elections?

- I think that's a great question.

I think we have some previous pretty high ranking officials from Michigan who are out there really working hard to promote the integrity and fairness of elections and really making sure that Michigan has a great track record and our clerks do a phenomenal job.

I think Michigan may lead the nation as... Like, we have over 1,600 county and local clerks, so the most decentralized voting system in the nation.

So all of those people are armed and equipped and they know the specifics of election day, which is really, really great.

And all those people are really fighting to make sure people's votes are counted and that people feel safe when they're voting.

And really just to make sure, bring all that integrity to the election process.

- [Stefanie] Definitely, now, if someone wants to volunteer at a precinct on election day, is that possible?

And how might they go about it?

- So there's a couple different ways depending on what role you want to play.

- Yeah.

- So if you want to be a poll worker, right, people who interact with the public, help voters figure out how to vote, where to vote, all of that, those are actually paid positions.

And so you can apply for those.

There's a central website that you can find through the Secretary of State or the Michigan Voter Information Center that you can apply for those positions.

You have to pick a party affiliation.

That doesn't mean you're registered under that affiliation.

It's just so they can make sure that there are kind of equal numbers of both if possible.

You know, there are also ways to potentially volunteer, but usually that's on behalf of a political party or an interest group.

Either someone who's an official challenger there to make challenges or kind of an informal poll watcher, to do that, any member of the public is welcome to to do that as long as there's room.

You can go, you can watch, you can't interact, you can't officially make challenges, you can't take photos as we already talked about, or videos, that sort of thing.

So there's a variety of ways to do that, but why not get the paid poll worker position.

I know they're always looking for more people.

- Sure.

- So that's perhaps the best way to be involved.

- Got it, all right.

Well, Kyla Stepp, Andrea LaFontaine, thank you both for being here and sharing your knowledge and expertise with us.

Yeah, thank you.

- Thanks.

(upbeat music) - And again, to reiterate, most polls will be open 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM on Tuesday, November 5th.

Thanks for watching.