Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals gave Detroit-area and other local clerks a much clearer path for handling problematic absentee ballots, ruling that mail-in ballots with missing or mismatched serial stubs may still be processed and counted. The decision reverses a December 2025 Court of Claims order and restores the Secretary of State’s guidance that treats stub issues as challenged ballots, which can move forward if election workers follow established procedures. The ruling is poised to shape how clerks deal with contested absentee returns heading into the 2026 election cycle.
Appeals court overturns lower ruling
The appellate panel concluded the Court of Claims went too far when it ordered a multi-step remedial process and blocked ballots with stub discrepancies from being tabulated. Instead, the appeals court effectively signed off on the Secretary of State’s approach, which keeps those absentee ballots in the count as long as they are treated as challenged and handled under existing rules, according to reporting from the Tampa Free Press.
How the rules work
Michigan election law requires inspectors to compare the unique number printed on a ballot stub with the number on the return envelope. If the numbers match, the ballot is tabulated, if they do not, or the stub is missing, the ballot can be flagged for challenge. The Secretary of State’s absentee-voting guidance and training materials spell out when a missing or detached stub should still be treated as a challenged ballot, while the Court of Claims’ December 3, 2025 opinion took a narrower view of the statute and ordered a more restrictive remedial procedure instead, as per Court of Claims order (Dec. 3, 2025).
How we got here
The legal fight kicked off in September 2024, when the Republican National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party and Chesterfield Township clerk Cindy Berry sued to block the Secretary of State’s guidance and to impose stricter rejection rules for absentee ballots with stub issues. A Court of Claims judge sided with them in December 2025 and put an interim remedy in place, prompting the state to appeal. The Court of Appeals then agreed to fast-track the case earlier this year, as per Court of Appeals order (Feb. 2, 2026).
What it means for clerks and voters
On the ground, the ruling means local election officials can continue using the challenged-ballot process for absentee votes with stub discrepancies instead of tossing them out by default. Signature verification and other safeguards still apply, but the decision leans toward preserving voters’ ability to have their ballots counted while maintaining the chain of custody and verification checks that clerks rely on, according to Michigan Secretary of State.
Legal fallout and next steps
The Court of Appeals also criticized the lower court for imposing a specific remedial process without making the necessary legal findings first, a move that could make judges more cautious about similar injunctions in future election disputes. The plaintiffs can still ask the Michigan Supreme Court to weigh in by filing an application for leave to appeal under the state’s procedural rules, and those next filings will determine whether this ruling becomes the last word, according to Michigan Court Rules.
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office framed the decision as a win for both voters and local clerks, while Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer praised the ruling as reinforcing the balance of secure and accessible elections in the state, as per Tampa Free Press.
