ALPENA — Voters in Northeast Michigan are already returning ballots with their candidate of choice for this year’s presidential primary, and area election officials have begun accuracy testing.

Michigan’s presidential primary is March 10. Some local proposals are on the ballot, too.

On Thursday at City Hall, election officials performed accuracy tests on the tabulators used to count ballots.

Alpena Clerk Anna Soik said mock ballots identical to those used during the election are run through the machine to be sure they are scanned and registered properly. She said there are also pre-produced ballots that have intentional mistakes that are scanned to be sure the errors are detected by the tabulator.

“We want to make sure that, if there is an issue with a ballot, it is recognized and taken care of,” Soik said. “We want to do this now so we don’t have issues on Election Day.”

Local clerk’s offices that have permanent lists of residents who vote absentee have mailed out those ballots and some are returning already.

As the March, August, and November elections approach, the number of ballots will only increase.

Soik said the city sent out 325 applications to people who have voted absentee in the past. From that number, 259 applications have been returned and those voters will receive ballots. They can then return the ballot by mail or drop them off at City Hall.

Soik said returned ballots are then securely stored until they’re counted on Election Day.

“For the most part, it is easier for us and the voter, because we don’t have to wait on them one at a time as they come in to request one,” Soik said of the mailed applications. “We maintain the list of absentee voters and it continues to grow and I think it is a lot more efficient for everyone.”

The Charter Township of Alpena also has a permanent absentee voter list to which it is still adding names.

Township Clerk Michele Palevich said there are 975 names on the list and, so far, 644 applications for ballots have been returned. She said ballots were sent out Thursday and she expects them to begin returning shortly.

Palevich said allowing people to vote absentee could boost voter turnout because of how easy it is. She said that, in communities with an aging population, like much of Northeast Michigan, voting by mail is the way to go.

“We are seeing more and more people voting absentee, and that is a good thing,” Palevich said. “People don’t have to stand in long lines, worry about driving in bad weather. They can just fill it out and mail it, or drop it off when they get a chance. People love it.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.