MI SB0979

Requires city and township clerks to notify electors within specified timeframes when an absent voter ballot application or return envelope has a missing signature or signature that does not sufficiently match the signature on file.

Establishes a signature review process requiring clerks to consider "redeeming qualities" (such as similar flourishes, trembling, or changed signature style) and various explanations for discrepancies before rejecting a signature as non-matching.

Allows electors to cure missing or non-matching signatures through multiple methods (providing a corrected signature, completing a signature cure form, or other methods specified by the clerk) until polls close on election day.

Defines "signature does not sufficiently agree" to mean the signature differs in "significant and obvious respects" from the signature on file, with slight dissimilarities resolved in favor of the elector; removes the previous 48-hour notification deadline before election day.

Changes terminology throughout the election law from "person" to "individual" for consistency and updates signature verification procedures for absent voter ballots processed by election inspectors.