Your ballot
Nearly every office in Michigan is up in 2026
This is not a light ballot. Voters who do not look at it beforehand tend to fill in the top and quit — and the races they skip are often the ones that touch their lives the most.
Preview my actual ballot Enter your address at mvic.sos.state.mi.us — the state's official site
Read this before you mark an August primary ballot
A Michigan primary ballot is divided into party columns. You may vote in only one party's column for partisan offices.
Michigan does not register voters by party, so you may choose whichever column you like — but you must stay inside it. If you mark a candidate in the Democratic column and another in the Republican column, the entire partisan portion of your ballot is thrown out. Not just the conflicting race. All of it.
The nonpartisan section — judicial races, and any local proposals or millages — is counted regardless of which party column you used. So always turn the ballot over and finish it.
Pick one column
Decide which party's primary you are voting in before you start marking. There is no wrong choice — there is only mixing.
Stay in it
Vote as many or as few partisan races in that column as you want. Leaving races blank costs you nothing.
Then do the rest
Judges, school boards, and proposals are separate and always count. Do not stop at the party section.
One mark votes the whole partisan side
Top-left of the partisan section is a box marked straight party ticket. Fill in one party's oval and every candidate of that party is voted, in every partisan race on your ballot.
You are not locked in. Mark someone else in a race and that mark wins there — Michigan lets you split a ticket in November. The one-column rule that voids a ballot belongs to the August primary.
What it does not do: it does not reach the nonpartisan section or the proposals, and it casts no vote in a race where that party has no candidate. Turn the ballot over and finish it.
Fill one oval
The straight party box sits above the first contest, on the left. One mark covers Senate, Governor, Congress and your legislature.
Override anything
Want a different candidate in one race? Mark them. That contest follows your mark; the rest still follows the straight ticket.
Then do the rest
Judges, school boards, and proposals are separate and always count. A straight ticket leaves them blank.
Top to bottom
What Michigan is deciding in 2026
2026 is a gubernatorial year, which in Michigan means the whole board turns over at once. The exact races on your ballot depend on your address.
Statewide
- Governor — an open race; the current governor is term-limited
- U.S. Senate — an open seat
- Attorney General
- Secretary of State — Michigan's chief election officer
Michigan decides statewide races by thin margins, regularly. These are not safe seats in either direction.
Congress & the Legislature
- All 13 U.S. House seats
- All 110 Michigan House seats — two-year terms, every one of them
- All 38 Michigan Senate seats — four-year terms, elected in gubernatorial years
Control of both chambers of the Legislature is decided this year. State legislative races are frequently won by a few hundred votes.
Courts & education boards
- Michigan Supreme Court — nonpartisan section of the ballot
- Court of Appeals, Circuit, District, and Probate judges
- State Board of Education
- Governing boards of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University
These sit near the bottom of the ballot and are the most skipped races in Michigan — despite deciding a great deal.
Where you live
- County executive, commission, prosecutor, sheriff, clerk, treasurer, register of deeds
- City and township offices
- School board
- Local proposals and millages — the taxes and services on your own street
Turnout for these is often in the single digits as a share of eligible voters. Your ballot weighs the most here.
Statewide ballot proposals
There are statewide proposals on this ballot, and many places have local questions too. Find them by their wording, not by number: numbers are assigned only when the Board of State Canvassers finalizes the ballot, and local questions, including Ann Arbor's, carry none. The state's preview tool shows the exact text for your address — read that rather than a description of it.
Doing your homework
How to fill out a long ballot without giving up
1. Print or screenshot your real ballot
Enter your address on the state's site and pull up the actual ballot you will receive. Do this at the kitchen table, not in the booth with a line behind you.
2. Start at the bottom, not the top
You already have opinions about the top of the ticket. Spend your research time on judges, school board, and proposals — the races where five minutes of reading genuinely changes your answer.
3. Read the proposal text itself
Millage and proposal summaries are written to persuade. The ballot language tells you the actual rate, the actual duration, and what the money can be spent on. It is usually one paragraph.
4. Mark it up and take it in
You are allowed to bring your marked-up sample ballot or a list on your phone into the voting booth. Then voting is transcription, and it takes three minutes.