Local election officials across Northern Michigan recount Prop 3 votes

CHARLEVOIX — Election officials across Northern Michigan spent the past week recounting ballots as requested by petitioner Jerome Jay Allen, who is affiliated with the Election Integrity Fund and Force, a group that filed a lawsuit to decertify the 2020 election earlier this year, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Allen petitioned for a recount in select areas throughout Michigan of the statewide Proposals 2 and 3 that were approved by voters in the November 2022 election.

Proposal 3 added the right to abortion and contraceptive use to the Michigan state constitution and Proposal 2 legalized early voting and ballot drop boxes.

The recount of Proposal 2 includes precincts in four counties: Kalamazoo, Macomb, Muskegon and Oakland.

The recount of Proposal 3 includes precincts in 43 counties: Allegan, Antrim, Barry, Bay, Benzie, Berrien, Calhoun, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Clare, Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Genesee, Houghton, Ingham, Ionia, Iosco, Isabella, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Kent, Lapeer, Leelanau, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Marquette, Midland, Montcalm, Muskegon, Oakland, Otsego, Ottawa, Shiawassee, Van Buren, Washtenaw, Wayne and Wexford.

Although the recount is still in progress, none of the Northern Michigan counties interviewed by the Charlevoix Courier as of publication time reported an overturned election result for Proposal 3. Despite this, some precincts did have variations in the yes and no totals and some had improperly sealed and secured ballot boxes, which resulted in them being rendered unrecountable.

Officials in Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmet counties spent seven hours at the Charlevoix Township Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 12, recounting the Proposal 3 ballots from 18 select precincts in each of their respective counties.

Several count watchers from the Election Integrity Fund — who was recognized by the state board of canvassers to act as an interested party on behalf of the petitioner — attended and were recognized by wearing a red dot on their lapel.

Proponents of Proposal 3 also attended, including representatives from the groups Promote the Vote, Promote the Vote 2022, the Michigan Democratic Party and Reproductive Freedom for All. They wore a green dot on their lapel for ease of identification.

One green dot and one red dot were allowed per recount table. The actual recount of the ballots was done by local township and city clerks seated at tables throughout the township hall.

In Antrim County, precincts in the City of Elk Rapids and Milton and Forest Home townships were recounted. All areas were recountable except the in-person precinct in Milton Township, which was determined not recountable because it was determined that a chain of custody and security was broken the day after the election.

The yes and no tallies were found different in the recount as well. The yes total on election day was 2,558 and in the recount there was 2,546, for a net change of 12. The no count on election day was 2,099 with a recount total of 2,108, for a net change of 9.

If a process is not followed correctly by election workers on election day, a precinct will be determined not recountable during a recount and the certified election results from election day stand. According to Kristi Dougan, election specialist for the Michigan Bureau of Elections, there is no specific method for a challenge to this.

“There are certain procedures adopted by the state for the recount of a statewide proposal — the last of which occurred in 1968,” said Dougan. “The procedures adopted included the determination of recountability. Once a precinct has been determined unrecountable there isn’t really an additional procedure that allows an appeal to that decision.”

In Emmet County, precincts in the City of Petoskey and the townships of Little Traverse, West Traverse and Bear Creek were recounted, for a total of eight precincts. Five of those precincts were declared not recountable. The yes and no tallies were off by one vote each, with an election day total of yes ballots being 2,945 and the recount being 2,944. The election day no tally was 2,269 and the recount was 2,270.

In Little Traverse Township, both the in-person election day ballots and the absentee ballots were not recountable because of what Dougan called “broken security and an unverifiable seal.” According to Dougan, both the absentee ballots and the in-person ballots were in the same container, which is incorrect procedure. In addition, the results were certified by people who were not sworn electors on election day.

In West Traverse Township, the in-person and absentee ballot precincts were not recountable because of the same problem — both being in the same container — as well as having a gap in the container bag that was against procedure and thought to possibly give opportunity for ballots to be improperly inserted.

Bear Creek Township’s absentee ballots were also unrecountable because of a gap in the ballot container bag.

In regards to the procedural errors that rendered some of the votes not recountable, Dougan said, “It is not uncommon for this to happen in a recount. It is after a very long day — election day is a very long day. You have election inspectors who work infrequently on these procedures. They do their best but human error does occur. We don’t believe that this is nefarious or fraudulent in nature. It is a correctable procedure."

As to why the procedural errors were not caught earlier, Dougan said, “The county canvassers in these situations would not have seen these ballot containers. They wouldn’t have a reason to, because the numbers were in balance as of election day and through certification. The ballot containers are retained at the local clerk’s office. Only in the event of a recount are they brought out and you see how they were secured on election day.

“At the canvassing board level, after an election the auditing that they do is a paperwork audit where they look at the poll books where the list of voters is matched against the number of ballots tabulated. If the number of voters that were issued a ballot or return an absentee ballot to be tabulated is out of balance with how many ballots are tabulated, they go through their procedures in order to retabulate that precinct under their authority.”

More:Michigan taxpayers to help foot bill for Proposals 2, 3 recounts that won't change outcome

More:5 things to know about recount of Michigan ballot proposals

Some unresolved challenges were made during the process on Tuesday in Charleviox. They are apparently headed to appeal through the Election Bureau via an attending representative of the Election Integrity Fund.

None of the challenges had to do with protesting the yes and no tallies.

One, in particular, had to do with not being able to see the other side of a ballot while the recount was in progress — a challenge that, according to Dougan, has also been brought by the group’s representatives in other counties' recounts.

“The petition was to recount for the ballot proposal (Prop 3) and includes just looking at that ballot proposal. There is nothing on the front side of that ballot that affects this ballot proposal,” said Dougan.

At the end of the recount, several watchers with red dots expressed their concern and frustration at not being able to count all the votes.

"We came to do a recount and were only able to do half the job," said John Tillotson from Emmet County. "From what I hear, this has happened in other locations as well. So we have multiple counties and multiple townships that are not doing what the state board of canvassers is expecting.

"I don't know what the solution to this is," he added, "but we are seeing a systemic problem ... this is happening all over."

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In Charlevoix County, precincts in the City of Charlevoix and the townships of Hayes and Charlevoix were all recountable.

The original election day yes vote total was 1,914 and the recount total was 1,913. The original no vote was 1,763 and the recount was 1,764.

In Cheboygan County on Dec. 8, precincts in the City of Cheboygan and Benton and Tuscarora townships were recounted. The absentee ballot boxes were claimed as unrecountable in Cheboygan and Tuscarora Township, however all the numbers in the recount matched the original election day numbers.

In the Eastern Upper Peninsula, a recount in Chippewa County took place on Dec. 10. Six precincts in the City of Sault Ste. Marie were recounted. None were unrecountable, and all of the yes and no tallies matched those on election day.

A recount in Traverse City will begin on Dec. 14 and Dougan anticipates it lasting at least two days.

— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Local election officials across Northern Michigan recount Prop 3 votes