Why thousands of Michigan votes likely won’t be counted in Tuesday’s primary

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

Every other August in Michigan, thousands of votes are rejected because the voters didn’t pay attention to the directions on their primary ballot, or didn’t understand them.

The problem occurs when voters do something called “crossover voting,” where, intentionally or otherwise, they vote for candidates from different parties on the same ballot.