We support any effort to securely, safely, and fairly cast a ballot.

That’s why we’re glad Michiganders in 2022 approved a ballot proposal that, among other changes, allowed early voting in the state.

Different than absentee voting, through voters can mail their ballots to their clerks ahead of Election Day, early voting allows residents to go to a polling place before Election Day and cast ballots in person, including sliding their ballots into a tabulator.

For Tuesday’s presidential primary election, early voting began Saturday.

Thus far, few Northeast Michigan voters have taken advantage of the new right, Steve Schulwitz reported in a recent News story. Just 18 voters had cast ballots in Alpena Township as of Monday, for example, and just 23 had done so in Alpena.

We still think early voting a worthwhile endeavor. Perhaps those 18 Alpena Township residents and 23 Alpenans had some sort of conflict on Election Day that would prevent them from visiting their precinct polling place, but they still wanted to cast a ballot in person because perhaps they worried about the security of their ballot traveling through the mail.

They ought to have that right. We’re glad early voting exists and we hope it continues into the future.

However, clerks need help to pull it off.

For Tuesday’s contest, the political parties foot the bill for voters to choose which nominees they support. In future elections, however, counties, cities, and townships will have to share in the cost of manning early voting sites leading up to Election Day. That cost can hit thousands of dollars, a tall ask for some local governments struggling financially.

We call on the state to help defray those costs so Michiganders can realize the benefits of early voting without overburdening our local governments.