Michigan recount: officials admit majority of Detroit precincts have incorrect ballot totals
Just one day after a federal judge ordered that the state of Michigan recount its ballots in the 2016 presidential election to check for accuracy, officials are now claiming they can’t recount the ballots in the most pivotal city, because they screwed up the process too thoroughly the first time around. In fact, by their own admission, the majority of precincts in Detroit had ballot totals in the precinct poll books which didn’t match those of the voting machines.
In almost unbelievable claim, Michigan officials are insisting that they recount the majority of the votes in Detroit, specifically because these totals were incorrect the first time. It turns out Michigan had passed a state law forbidding recounts in the event that original numbers didn’t match up between the books and the machines. That law seems to have been rather transparently created for the express purpose of ensuring that vote counting fraud or incompetence can never be properly uncovered, and appears to be unconstitutional on its face.
And yet, as of this moment, Michigan is flat out insisting that the ballots in 392 of the 662 precincts in Detroit simply can’t be recounted. As if to bluntly underscore the embarrassing nature of the Michigan 2016 election situation, the elections director for the city of Detroit admitted to local newspaper The Detroit News that “It’s not good” and went on to explain that eighty-seven vote counting machines broke on election day. This should come as news to the federal judge who already mandated that the recount take place; if he chooses to, he can rule that the Michigan laws covering this matter are unconstitutional, and force these votes to be recounted in accordance with his original ruling.
