LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette want clerks in two dozen Michigan communities to extend the counting deadline for absentee ballots sent to residents overseas and in the military.

Johnson said Friday that the clerks reported they did not send out 38 ballots in the required 45 days before the November 6th election.

She and Schuette say they will file a lawsuit to require the clerks to count the ballots from voters who applied by the September 22nd deadline set by Michigan election law.

Johnson's office says Bureau of Elections staff sent multiple reminders to all 1,517 local clerks about their responsibility to send out the ballots by the deadline. More than 8,700 ballots were requested before the deadline.