Committee hears bills to delay local officials’ swearing‑in until post‑canvass

The Michigan House Committee on Election Integrity on July 1, 2025 heard testimony on a four‑bill package — House Bills 4358, 4359, 4698 and 4699 — that would shift the start dates for certain local elected officials so ballots postmarked by Election Day but received or adjudicated afterward can be included before a winner takes office, Representative Hoadley told the committee.

Supporters said the change would avoid situations in which newly sworn officials could later be overtaken by late‑counted ballots or recount results. “This technical fix ensures all votes are counted before a winning candidate assumes his office position,” Representative Hoadley said.

The bills would align the timing of local swearing‑in with the post‑election canvass period. Local clerks and county election officials testified the canvass has lengthened in recent election cycles because statute now requires overseas and military ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day and received within six days, and because signature cures and other post‑election processes can take several days. “We have 6 days where we are, dealing with move ballots,” Mary Clark, Delta Township clerk, said, describing seven ballots in her jurisdiction that arrived after Election Day but were postmarked on or before Election Day and had to be manually added to the totals.

Clerks said jurisdictions currently vary widely in swearing‑in dates: East Lansing’s incoming officials take office the Monday after the election, the City of Lansing uses Jan. 1, and some townships previously used Nov. 20. Mary Clark and other witnesses asked the committee to standardize dates so that most local officials would not be sworn in before the canvass could be completed; witnesses described December 1 as a commonly proposed uniform date to allow canvass completion while allowing Lansing to retain a Jan. 1 start in the text as drafted.

“Lansing can still do January 1, but everybody else will be moved to the December 1 deadline to allow for canvas to happen to avoid any confusion or any embarrassing moments where someone sworn in that actually is in a close election and move ballot tallies change that,” Clark said.

Kent County Clerk Lisa Postumas Lyons urged the committee to act, saying the change is a “noncontroversial, common sense measure” to ensure those taking the oath have been certified. Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown asked the Legislature to give any enacted bills immediate effect so the change could apply for the upcoming November elections.

Tyrone Township clerk Dolan Behr described a practical example: he said he was sworn in on Nov. 20 and had only minutes of overlap with the predecessor who could have provided additional training and a mailed certificate. “I could have used 10 more days of training,” Behr said, supporting a later swearing‑in date for newly elected local officials.

No committee vote was recorded on the bills during the hearing. The committee first adopted the minutes from its June 24 meeting by unanimous consent before taking testimony on the four bills.

The committee also read into the record organizations expressing positions on the package, including the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks and the Michigan Department of State in support; the Michigan Municipal League registered neutral.

The bills were presented and heard; no formal committee action on the bills was recorded at the hearing.