Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., from left, former President Barack Obama and Gretchen Whitmer appear during a rally in Detroit Friday, Oct. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The number of absentee ballots issued and returned statewide is up by more than 50 percent from the same point in 2014 — a signal that voter enthusiasm is high. Midterm turnout typically is in the neighborhood of 3.2 million. The state’s former longtime elections director estimated 4 million will vote, which would be the highest midterm turnout on a percentage basis in nearly 50 years.

Clerks are ordering more ballots, hiring more precinct workers and amassing more voting booths to accommodate extra voters, including many who will take longer without the ability to check a single box to automatically vote for all candidates of one party.

Voting expert Mark Grebner said while absentee voting has been on the rise due to an aging population, only a small portion of the spike in absentee ballot requests is from people who otherwise would have voted on Election Day. He predicted as many as 1 million sporadic voters who sat out the 2014 and 2010 elections may vote, bringing turnout to 4.2 million for the first midterm of Donald Trump’s presidency.

“Everybody’s kind of wound up about this election,” said Grebner, who summed up the reason: “Trump. Trump. Trump.”

Gubernatorial running mate and former state Rep. Laura Posthumus Lyons, from left to right, gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General Bill Schuette, Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Senate candidate John James campaign with Republican candidates at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. (Dale G.Young/Detroit News via AP)

Absentee ballot requests are approaching, even surpassing levels seen in higher-turnout presidential years. They are up everywhere — in conservative, liberal and middle-road areas.

As of Saturday, Ingham County — the home of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gretchen Whitmer — had issued 35,200 absentee ballots and had received 29,200 back, roughly 70 percent more than in 2014. The number of absentee ballots cast in Ingham is on pace to top 2016. County Clerk Barb Byrum said it is a “strong indicator of what voter engagement and voter turnout are going to look like on Election Night.”

Higher turnout is crucial for Democrats because younger voters and voters of color tend to stay home in non-presidential elections, making the midterm electorate older, whiter and more Republican-tilting.

“Republicans are pretty consistent on turnout. They don’t vary widely. Frankly, one of the reasons Republicans do so well in a non-presidential year is Democrats don’t show up to vote,” said GOP strategist Tom Shields.

That changed in the August primary, when more than 1.1 million people voted in the Democratic gubernatorial contest, double the number in the 2010 race. Chris Thomas, who was the state elections director for 36 years, said he usually does not put much credence in primary turnout but was struck by how the number of first-time voters was “much higher” than in any previous primary. He pointed to millennial-heavy places like suburban Detroit’s Ferndale and Royal Oak, where so many voters showed that precincts ran short on ballots.