“There’s always going to be small problems to some degree, but we didn’t expect the degree of problem we saw in Detroit. “The city is responsible. “At any rate, this should not have happened.”. Detroit and Wayne County should kick themselves because of the 595,253 votes they gave Obama in 2012, only 518,000 voted for Clinton in 2016. The Republican primary netted slightly more at 1.3 million. We welcome readers to submit letters regarding articles and content in Detroit Metro Times. The 50% turnout would be higher than the roughly 48% turnout in 2016, but lower than in 2012 when there was 51% turnout and 2008 when there was 53% turnout, Baxter said. State officials are planning to examine about 20 Detroit precincts where ballot boxes opened during the recount had fewer ballots than poll workers had recorded on Election Day. But he said the large number of precincts with over-votes in Detroit isn’t necessarily significant. © 2021 The Detroit News, a Digital First Media Newspaper, report that more than half of Detroit would be ineligible. In Michigan, Black turnout fell by more than 12 points overall in 2016, while voters in the whiter, more rural areas along the Interstate 75 corridor turned out in force for Trump. In Washtenaw County, 23 of 150 precincts, about 15 percent, could not be recounted. Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox. With concerns about low voter turnout in 2016, a wide range of groups and churches mobilized this year to get out the vote in Detroit — a place that … — Motor City Muckraker (@MCmuckraker) November 8, 2016 But Republican President-elect Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes or 47.5 percent to 47.3 percent. Traditional Michigan Democratic voters in inner cities such as Detroit and Flint helped President Obama win his second term in 2012, but didn't pack the same punch for Hillary Clinton … According to city protocol, all precincts are supposed to be balanced when the ballot boxes are sealed at the end of the night, he said. The 2016 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Media Services Department. var first = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; According to the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, election officials in Detroit think voter turnout could be half of the voter turnout in 2012 and … You have humidity. In 2016, turnout fell in Detroit; Hillary Clinton got about 47,000 fewer votes in the city than Barack Obama did in 2012. Tags: Trump's America, Detroit, 2020, Joe Biden, Black voters, Hillary Clinton, Dinald Trump, Image. An article in The Free Press reported 2016 is "shaping up as a raucous and competitive election season with incumbent politicians facing strong challenges up and down the ballot, and a presidential race that could influence the control of every race." Fill out an affidavit. Using voter registration data, turnout … script.src = 'https://us.commitchange.com/js/donate-button.v2.js'; In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried Detroit, but there was only a 48% voter turnout. Detroit Metro Times works for you, and your support is essential. 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 when we’re off, we should be very, very close, like one ballot.”. Preliminary numbers released by the City of Detroit's elections department shows close to 50 percent of all voters registered, slightly more than 250,000 people, cast ballots this year. What's interesting here is that the sharp turnout drop in Detroit began in 2012 and continued in 2016; in both years turnout was down 14 percent from the previous election. That’s because county officials have not tabulated how much the ballots were off in precincts with discrepancies of at least five votes. The state is not calling the audit an investigation, “but based on what we find, it could lead to more,” he said. Detroit’s ballot was two pages because it included dozens of candidates for the local Board of Education. No attachments will be considered. Gleason took office in 2013 and said he had to “ride herd” over city clerks to ensure they reconciled precincts. And two-thirds of … You’re going to need a far more systematic and thorough approach than a couple of people here and there stuffing three extra ballots.”. You have people hanging onto ballots,” Gleason said. Under state law, those precincts could be recounted because there were explanations. Housing and Revitalization Department. More than 75,000 Motown Obama voters … (function() { Donald Trump won Michigan … var script = document.createElement('script'); Detroit voter turnout in previous elections were 48.6% in 2016, 51% in 2012 and 53.1% in 2008, according to results on the city of Detroit's website. But voter turnout among black voters fell almost seven percentage points, to 59.4 percent, the Census figures show — after hitting an all-time high of 66.2 percent in 2012. Voting irregularities in Detroit have spurred plans for an audit by Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office, Elections Director Chris Thomas said Monday. The law states that original results stand in precincts that can’t be recounted. Overall, state records show 10.6 percent of the precincts in the 22 counties that began the retabulation process couldn’t be recounted because of state law that bars recounts for unbalanced precincts or ones with broken seals. Of the data available, though, machines tallied at least 388 more ballots, according to a Detroit News analysis of the records. Detroit — A “lack of enthusiasm” this presidential election cycle, has city election officials forecasting a lower voter turnout Tuesday in Detroit. Republican state senators last week called for an investigation in Wayne County, including one precinct where a Detroit ballot box contained only 50 of the 306 ballots listed in a poll book, according to an observer for Trump. But if anything, large cities in Michigan like Detroit have seen a decline in population since 2016. Writers of letters selected for publication will be notified via email. But there are other, more subtle ways vulnerable groups are disenfranchised. Janice Winfrey is responsible,” Barrow said. All parts of this site Copyright © 2021 Detroit Metro Times. Others said there could be benign explanations. The number of pages can cause machines to jam and lead them to count too many ballots, said Genesee County Clerk John Gleason. “So there’s reasons, but there should be no excuses.”. The Detroit turnout was 41% as of 7 p.m., compared to 43% at the same time on the 2012 election night, said Daniel Baxter, director of the Detroit Department of … if(document.getElementById('commitchange-script')) return; script.id = 'commitchange-script'; Democrat Hillary Clinton overwhelmingly prevailed in Detroit and Wayne County. Whether it's a one-time acknowledgement of this article or an ongoing pledge, your support helps keep Detroit's true free press free. “It’s supposed to reconcile to zero.”. The problems were the worst in Detroit, where discrepancies meant officials couldn’t recount votes in 392 precincts, or nearly 60 percent. Our small but mighty local team works tirelessly to bring you high-quality, uncensored news and cultural coverage of Detroit and beyond. The Detroit News last week was first to report that more than half of Detroit would be ineligible for the recount because of the irregularities. Voting machines in more than one-third of all Detroit precincts registered more votes than they should have during last month’s presidential election, according to Wayne County records prepared at the request of The Detroit News. Letters should be a minimum of 150 words, refer to content that has appeared on Detroit Metro Times, and must include the writer's full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes. first.parentNode.insertBefore(script, first); City Clerk Janice Winfrey and Elections Director Daniel Baxter did not return multiple messages. “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. Here is a breakdown of the irregularities in Detroit’s 662 precincts: ■236 precincts in balance — equal numbers of voters counted by workers and machines. 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. She spent hours in the cold knocking on doors anyway. According to a Detroit Free Press analysis, Biden indeed received 233,908 Detroit votes, nearly 1,000 fewer than the 234,871 votes Clinton got in 2016. “I have not seen anyone intentionally try to run an extra ballot. script.setAttribute('data-npo-id', npo); Human Resources Department. Conner is among more than 1,400 Detroit voters who cast ballots in 2016, but left the choice of president blank. The Detroit News found voting scanning machines at 248 of the city’s 662 precincts — 37 percent — tabulated more ballots than the number of actual voters counted in the poll books. Municipal Parking Department. Genesee County, which like Wayne County is heavily Democratic, couldn’t recount 14 of the 142 precincts it had started before the court scuttled the process. Issues at polling places sow distrust in the political system and make people question whether their vote matters. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, the city’s Election Department website reported a 49.97 percent voter turnout, a total of 226,960 votes. It’s unclear how many votes were added in Detroit. })(); Michigan lawmakers make the push to keep daylight saving time all year long, because springing forward sucks, ‘Autocratic’ DIA director presided over toxic workplace, audio recording of confidential meeting reveals, Lucido weaponizes COVID-19 nursing home deaths, but skipped vote to protect seniors. When Barack Obama won Michigan in 2008, Detroit had around … Letters may be edited and shortened for space. Haroutunian said she didn’t know what to make of the trend toward over-counting because there was no explanation from Detroit poll workers. Homeland Security & Emergency Management, Detroit. Detroit is a key Democratic bloc in a state Donald Trump won by just 10,704 votes in 2016 when turnout was a low 48 percent and had 42,598 fewer votes compared to 2012. Law Department. “Nothing is perfect. © 2021 Former Detroit mayoral candidate Tom Barrow, who has challenged the city’s elections process for years, said blaming workers is a cop-out. Noncompetitive races increase voter apathy and suppress turnout. Young Municipal Center 2 Woodward Ave. Suite 200 Detroit, MI 48226 313-224-3260 , Fax: 313-224-1466 , … This isn’t normal,” said Krista Haroutunian, chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. That was based on half of the city’s precincts ballots fully counted, which means that … Website powered by Foundation, Oakland County has seen a shift from red to blue, Rocket Companies and Ford join U.S. corporations halting political donations following Capitol riot, GOP congressman from Michigan tells Trump 'to deal with' election defeat, Thanking Detroit for Joe Biden's Michigan victory wound up being premature. More problems in Detroit: Some voters who registered on the last day aren't showing up on the voting lists. var npo = 5487; The results were based on county reports obtained by The News. Many more stayed home. It's true that population fluctuations can alter voter turnout. You have paper. The Detroit precincts are among those that couldn’t be counted during a statewide presidential recount that began last week and ended Friday following a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court. City officials have told state officials that ballots in that precinct were never taken out of a locked bin below the voting machine tabulator on Election Day, said Secretary of State spokesman Fred Woodhams. Unlike many newspapers, ours is free – and we'd like to keep it that way, because we believe, now more than ever, everyone deserves access to accurate, independent coverage of their community. At the time, she had no idea whether the work she was doing would even matter, but a few days later she’d have her reward: Almost 50 percent of eligible Detroiters voted, not the record some expected, but a robust turnout and an improvement upon 2016 that helped Democrats defeat President Donald Trump in Michigan. “Usually, if there’s a problem, it tends to be more voters than votes,” he said. The problems were the worst in Detroit, where discrepancies meant officials couldn’t recount votes in 392 precincts, or nearly 60 percent. The city had another 34 precincts that were out of balance, but they included explanations for the discrepancies. State Elections Director Chris Thomas explains a state audit of 20 precincts in Detroit where ballot boxes contained fewer votes than counted in the election poll book. He said many jammed when voters tried repeatedly to stuff single ballots into scanners, which can result in erroneous vote counts if poll workers don’t adjust counters. That’s 0.16 percent of the 248,000 ballots cast in the city that voted for Clinton 95 percent to 3 percent over Trump. Rashida Tlaib's re-election is basically in the bag. 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. ■144 precincts with too few votes and no explanation (81 were 1 under, 29 were 2 under; 19 were 3 under; 7 were 4 under; 8 were 5 or more under), ■34 precincts out of balance but with an explanation, State to probe voting irregularities in Detroit. Detroit Metro Times - Contact Us “This didn’t happen because of crazy, dyslexic senior citizens who are working as poll workers, like they want to portray this. “That’s what we’ve been told, and we’ll be wanting to verify it,” Woodhams said. In Detroit in 2016, widespread voting machine failures invalidated thousands of ballots. And two-thirds of those precincts had too many votes. Detroit’s voting irregularities spur state audit. Other counties with high percentages of unrecountable precincts include Branch (27 percent); Cass (24 percent); Wayne (24 percent) and Ionia (24 percent). That’s people who are trying to deny responsibility.”. The higher turnout in … Another 1,548 voted third-party, more than twice as many as four years prior. He has asserted on social media that Winfrey cost Clinton the election in Michigan. 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Dow Home and Studio as Live Zoom Events. Wayne County still voted overwhelmingly blue in 2016, but because turnout dropped in the county, the 2016 blue margin was less than 290,000 votes, or about 92,000 worse than in 2012. In 2016, there were 1.2 million votes cast in the Democratic primary. In the August primary elections, turnout nearly doubled — from 65,115 total votes in 2016 to 121,298 this year. The new report, compiled by Wayne County elections officials, sheds light on the extent of the problems and shows a systematic tendency toward counting more votes than the previous Wayne County report, which didn’t specify if precincts had over-counted or under-counted ballots. “It’s usually human error,” Golembiewski said. Last week, Baxter told The News 87 optical scanners broke on Election Day. ■248 precincts with too many votes and no explanation (77 were 1 over; 62 were 2 over, 37 were 3 over, 20 were 4 over, 52 were 5 or more over). You aren’t going to rig an election three ballots at a time. View City of Detroit election results CONTACTS City Clerk's Office Coleman A. 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.