Michigan’s elections bureau ordered an investigation Monday into substantial ballot discrepancies in a small 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. 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 narrow victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state. Clinton won 95 percent of Detroit’s vote. Detroit elections officials told the state that in the one precinct, the 250 missing ballots were left in the tabulator bin, “but we want to verify this,” Woodhams said. It was not immediately clear what caused the inconsistencies in other precincts.
Clinton cut into Trump’s 10,704-vote win by only 102 votes during Michigan’s election recount, which was requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein and which covered more than 40 percent of the statewide vote before courts stopped it. Many precincts could not be recounted, however — in Detroit and elsewhere — because the number of ballots in a sealed container did not match the number of voter names recorded in the poll book. In such cases, the election night totals stood.
It is not uncommon for there to be slight inconsistencies, typically due to human error. “But when there’s a significant mismatch, that’s especially concerning,” Woodhams said.
The ballots in question will be taken to the state capital, Lansing, for review. The investigation will take about three weeks.
Full Article: Michigan to audit ‘significant’ mismatches in Detroit vote.