ESCANABA — The Michigan Secretary of State’s Office announced Thursday that absentee ballots are now available for the Aug. 6 primary election.

Residents interested in voting by absentee ballot may request an absentee ballot application in person at their local city or township clerk’s office; call their local clerk and request an application be mailed to them; download an absentee voter ballot application from the Secretary of State’s Website, https://www.michigan.gov/sos/ and mail it to their clerk’s office; or use the state’s online absentee ballot application, found at https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/AVApplication

Voters who apply to receive an absentee ballot have the option to be added to the permanent mail ballot list. Those voters whose names are on the list will automatically receive an absentee ballot from their local clerk in future elections.

As the Aug. 6 election is a primary, voters will only be able to vote in elections for a single party, with the winning candidates from each party representing their parties on the Nov. 6 ballot. For Delta County, the races are particularly heated, as multiple county-level races likely will be decided at the primary level due to a lack of candidates from opposing parties.

Key county level primary races include:

County Clerk – Republican: Nancy Przewrocki (Formerly Nancy Kolich) versus Elizabeth Moberg

County Commission District 1 – Republican: John Malnar versus Sandra Skibe

County Commission District 2 – Republican: Steve Viau versus Patrick Johnson

County Commission District 3 – Republican: Bob Barron versus Christine Williams

County Commission District 4 – Democrat: Kelli van Ginhoven versus Jason Sacco

County Commission District 5 – Republican: Matt Jensen versus Bob Petersen

In the Nov. 6 general election, the winner of District 3’s primary race will face Myra Croasdell, no party affiliation. The winner of District 4’s primary will face Republican Dave Moyle.