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Don't expect to see Michigan primary results Tuesday Michigan expects delays in reporting the results of its primary due to the huge backlog of absentee votes. Since Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson took office last year, Michigan has expanded voting options for citizens, including giving all voters the option to vote by mail and later voter registration. That's led to the state sending off nearly a million absentee ballots for the 2020 primary, with more than 800,000 of them already returned. That number includes the 36,574 ballots that were already spoiled, meaning people who voted early for a candidate who has dropped out can get their vote back. But under Michigan law, absentee ballots can't even be opened until Election Day morning, leading to fears of long delays before precincts can produce a final count. "Current state law hasn't really caught up," said Jake Rollow, a spokesperson for Benson's office. Many jurisdictions have responded by setting up "absentee voting counting boards," separate locations where poll workers and reps from each party are devoted to processing absentee ballots all day, Rollow said. Share this -







It's election day in Detroit, but it doesn't look like it DETROIT — As voters in Michigan's largest city started arriving at schools and community centers to vote in the state's presidential primary on Tuesday, many were greeted by, well, not very much. The area in front of polling places is typically busy and colorful on primary election day, as volunteers post signs and banners for their favorite candidates and greet voters with flyers in hopes of winning last-minute support. But the lack of local races, the fact that Michigan recently changed its laws to allow voters to cast absentee ballots for any reason, and the recent drop in the number of candidates still vying for the Democratic presidential nomination left many polling places in Detroit eerily quiet. It was quiet outside some polling places in Detroit, like this one at Bunche Preparatory Academy on the city's east side. Erin Einhorn / NBC News An NBC reporter visited six polling places on the east side of Detroit on Tuesday morning and saw just one person outside of one of them — and she was working for a data company conducting an exit poll. The rest had little more than a sign that read "Vote Here," with no campaign volunteers or workers in sight. "You're only looking at the Democratic Party and there's only two left, three left," said election worker Aaron Taylor, 53, referring to the remaining Democratic presidential candidates. "So there's no need to really be out here for that." Taylor, who was taking a cigarette break outside the polling place at Detroit's Bunche Preparatory Academy, a public elementary school, said turnout has been "moderate" at his precinct. But he predicted the activity outside his poling place will return for the general election. "I'm pretty sure come November they'll be out here," he said. Share this -







Why Biden's chance of beating Sanders is even bigger than it seems In a matter of 72 hours, Joe Biden parlayed a dominant victory in South Carolina into a steamrolling performance on Super Tuesday: He not only won substantially African American electorates like Alabama's and Virginia's, but he also carried Texas and scored huge coups by winning Massachusetts, Minnesota and Maine — all states thought to be favorable to Bernie Sanders. And Biden did so without much of a personal, TV or field presence in any of them. According to the latest NBC News projection, Biden leads Sanders by 513 to 461 in pledged delegates, with 105 for other candidates (1,991 are required to win the nomination). There are still millions of votes to count in California in the coming days, giving Sanders room to grow. But Biden's total will also grow as his best states are certified and delegates are awarded based on the results calculated in each congressional district. Here are three reasons the former vice president is amassing what could be an insurmountable delegate lead. Share this -







5 things to watch on Super Tuesday II: Sanders' revolution faces a reckoning Super Tuesday resurrected Joe Biden’s campaign and powered him into a delegate lead. Super Tuesday II must revive Bernie Sanders or the nomination could slip away from him again. A new CNN poll shows Biden leading Sanders by a margin of 52 percent to 36 percent in a two-person race. The biggest dividing line is age — voters under 45 said they prefer Sanders by nearly 2-to-1, while voters 45 or older picked Biden by more than 4-to-1. That generational gap looms over another big day of voting Tuesday, with Democratic voters in Michigan, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington set to deliver their verdict on who the party’s nominee to take on President Donald Trump should be. It’s also the last day for Democrats living abroad to participate in the primary. Here are five things to watch on Super Tuesday II. Share this -







Tuesday's primary states brace for strong turnout, hope to avoid long lines The six states voting in the primaries and caucuses Tuesday are bracing for a strong turnout after some voters in California and Texas waited hours in long lines to cast their ballots. Election officials and experts are hoping that with less new technology, more paper-based methods and early and absentee voting options, the states — Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Washington, and North Dakota — have fewer bottlenecks. But other changes may delay reporting of the results. “We do not anticipate unusually long lines in the March 10 states, primarily due to variables such as voting methods, state sizes and the absence of major process changes such as the introduction of Vote Centers,” Eddie Perez, an election administration analyst with the technology group OSET Institute, said in an email. Click here for the full story. Share this -







Sanders and Biden scrap on the airwaves in Tuesday's states WASHINGTON — It may not be super, but as the Democratic race hits the latest round of contests today, Joe Biden is looking to replicate his strong showing on last week's Super Tuesday and widen his delegate lead over Bernie Sanders. The Sanders campaign is outspending Biden on the TV and radio airwaves across the six states that hold their nominating contests today — $2.9 million to Biden's almost $2.2 million, according to Advertising Analytics. But Biden's effort has been boosted by spending from his allied super PAC, Unite the Country. Both campaigns are spending the most in Michigan — Sanders and Biden have spent about $1.2 million each, with Unite the Country spending another almost $400,000. The Biden campaign and his super PAC have also run ads in Missouri and Mississippi, but neither have spent a cent on TV or radio ads in Washington, Idaho and North Dakota. The Sanders campaign, by comparison, has gone up on the airwaves in all six states voting Tuesday. Sanders' top ad across these states, according to Advertising Analytics data, is one that attacks Biden on social security by using audio from a speech in 1995 where he called for a spending freeze across the government. His campaign has spent more than $644,000 to air the ad in states holding votes on Tuesday. The Biden campaign has bristled at those attacks, and has spent almost $200,000 in those states on ads that criticize Sanders for going negative and argue Biden has said he'd expand Medicare and Social Security. Biden's top ads in the states voting Tuesday are different versions of the same spot, which feature former President Obama's praise of Biden as "an extraordinary man with an extraordinary career in public service." And Unite Our Country has spent $376,000 in these states on a spot that quotes Biden talking about his campaign, and includes some brief swipes at Sanders (Biden is quoted int he ad saying he wants to "build on ObamaCare" instead of scrapping it, and "Democrats want a nominee who is a Democrat"). Share this -







FIRST READ: Sanders defied the odds in Michigan once before. A replay might be much harder. Four years ago, Bernie Sanders shocked the political world and defied the public polling by winning the Michigan primary — even though he was unable to change the overall delegate math. But here are three reasons why Sanders winning Michigan tonight on this Above-Average Tuesday would be an even bigger surprise than it was in 2016. Share this -





