Michigan recount: Detroit has over one-third more votes than registered voters, most votes ‘tainted’
Michigan’s elections bureau ordered an investigation into substantial ballot discrepancies in a portion of Detroit’s voting precincts, after the discovery of a polling place where 300 people voted but only 50 ballots were properly sealed in a container.
Detailed reports from the office of Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett show optical scanners at 248 of the city’s 662 precincts, or 37 percent, tabulated more ballots than the number of voters tallied by workers in the poll books.
Since learning of the issue last week during Michigan’s presidential recount, state officials have learned of similar “significant mismatch” problems at roughly 20 of Detroit’s 490 precincts, said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.
He said there is no reason to think votes were not counted and the differences would not have affected Republican Donald Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state.
Clinton won 95 percent of Detroit’s vote.
Clinton cut into Trump’s 10,704-vote win by only 102 votes during Michigan’s election recount, which was organized by Green Party candidate Jill Stein and which covered more than 40 percent of the statewide vote before courts stopped it.
Officials couldn’t recount votes in 392 precincts, or nearly 60 percent — two-thirds of those precincts had too many votes. (Emphasis added, BBJ The Dispatch)
“There’s always going to be small problems to some degree, but we didn’t expect the degree of problem we saw in Detroit. This isn’t normal,” said Krista Haroutunian, chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.
“We’re assuming there were (human) errors, and we will have discussions with Detroit election officials and staff in addition to reviewing the ballots,” Thomas said.
State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton, called the planned audit “a good place to start” that could help determine whether Detroit elections workers “followed the correct procedures” or “fraudulent procedures” on Election Day.
Whether a poll book mismatch suggests there are too few or too many ballots in any given precinct, “it’s concerning,” said Colbeck, who spearheaded the request for probe. “It’s supposed to reconcile to zero.”
Washtenaw County Elections Director Ed Golembiewski said discrepancies tend to “even themselves out” — there are usually about as many precincts whose machines report more votes than fewer votes. But he said the large number of precincts with over-votes in Detroit isn’t necessarily significant.
“It’s usually human error,” Golembiewski said. “I have not seen anyone intentionally try to run an extra ballot. You aren’t going to rig an election three ballots at a time. You’re going to need a far more systematic and thorough approach than a couple of people here and there stuffing three extra ballots.”
[…] to “prove” Trump stole the election from Hillary Clinton found voter fraud issues in Democrat controlled cities (Detroit) and miscounts that benefited the […]
[…] The Politico article bemoans the potential influence of Russia or other rogue nations on elections, but avoid serious concerns about voter fraud and the results found in those pesky recounts – Trump got more votes and Democrats cheated in Michigan. […]