Sterling Heights makes major moves to expand absentee voting

City paying for postage

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – The president has spoken out against it, but Sterling Heights is taking big steps to expand absentee voting.

Twenty five thousand dollars may not sound like a lot of money for voting in the state’s fourth largest city, but when it comes to absentee voting during a pandemic, it’s just the push Sterling Heights says it needs.

In a vote last last month the city’s budget included a new line item -- $25,000 for return postage for voters looking to cast their vote by mail.

Each return postage to cost roughly 71 cents meaning the money set aside is enough for more than 35,000 residents to vote absentee.

In recent weeks the president and his administration have sewed doubt about absentee voting saying without evidence, it’s prone to voter fraud, making the decision from Sterling Heights an interesting one especially given Macomb County swung heavily for the president in 2016.

On Twitter Sterling Heights Republican Mayor Mike Taylor who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, but voted for Joe Biden in the primary, praised the move to pay for return postage saying, “it’s a small expense to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can vote safely from the comfort of their own home.”

Beyond the return postage, Sterling Heights is also working on getting more boxes out to fire stations for those voters who do not want to send their absentee votes in through the mail.

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