Michigan election officials call Detroit's primary voting problems, including problems counting ballots, 'appalling,' 'alarming' #LearnToCount #VoteInPerson #NoToVoteByMail
"I think we need an investigation with a conclusion that somebody else is going to run that election or not," said Norm Shinkle, one of two Republicans on the board that's in charge of certifying statewide election results.
The criticism came a day after The Detroit News reported Wayne County election data that showed 72% of the absentee voting precincts in Michigan's largest city had ballot counts that were out of balance by at least one vote for the Aug. 4. primary.
When it comes to absentee and Election Day precincts, the percentage of Detroit's precincts with out-of-balance totals was 46%, according to the county data.
Michigan's largest city has had similar problems in the past. Election officials couldn’t reconcile vote totals for 59% of precincts in 2016.
In 2017, then-Secretary of State Ruth Johnson ordered that the state help retrain election workers and provide other assistance to correct what a MI Bureau of Elections audit of 136 Detroit precincts called "significant discrepancies" in votes and “an abundance of human errors."
Having balanced precincts is particularly important in Michigan because precincts whose poll books don’t match with ballots can’t be recounted, according to state law.
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