Update: The Wayne County Board of Canvassers reversed course and certified the election results showing that Biden won.
The Wayne County Board of Canvassers failed to certify its election results after a vote on Tuesday ended up deadlocked with a 2-2 vote along party lines.
“The four-member board’s two Republicans voted against certification, while its two Democrats voted to certify the results,” The Washington Post reported. “Joe Biden holds a lead of nearly 148,000 votes in Michigan, and Democrats in the state believe the partisan split of the board in Wayne County – home to heavily Democratic Detroit — simply delays an inevitable official victory for Biden in the state.”
The state board, which is also made up of two Republicans and two Democrats, has until December 13 to certify the county’s election results.
The Detroit Free Press reported:
Monica Palmer, the Republican chair of the committee said: “I believe that we do not have complete and accurate information on those poll books,” referring to jurisdictions, including Detroit, that recorded unexplained discrepancies between the number of absentee ballots recorded as cast and the number of absentee ballots counted. Jonathan Kinloch, the Democratic vice chair of the board, said: “Most of this is human error. … It’s not based on fraud.” All four members of the board unanimously supported the certification of the August primary election, which also saw unexplained discrepancies. During the meeting, Palmer said she would be open to certifying the election results for other jurisdictions that did not record unexplained discrepancies. Public commenters accused the board’s Republican members of disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters in refusing the certify the election.
Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox responded to the news by saying, “I am proud that, due to the efforts of the Michigan Republican Party, the Republican National Committee and the Trump Campaign, enough evidence of irregularities and potential voter fraud was uncovered resulting in the Wayne County Board of Canvassers refusing to certify their election results.”
“This action will allow more time for us to get to the bottom of these deeply troubling irregularities,” Cox, added. “The people of Michigan deserve fair, open and transparent elections, and we will continue to fight for just that.”
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said in a statement:
Should the current decision of the Board of Wayne County Canvassers hold through the adjournment of today’s meeting, the Board of State Canvassers will be responsible for certifying the Wayne County election. In similar circumstances in the past, state canvassers have appointed the Bureau of Elections to carry out the processes of canvassing the vote and voter totals. The Bureau stands ready to fulfill this duty and we expect this will address clerical errors and improve the quality of the canvass overall. It is common for some precincts in Michigan and across the country to be out of balance by a small number of votes, especially when turnout is high. Importantly, this is not an indication that any votes were improperly cast or counted.
My statement on the actions taken during today’s meeting of the Board of Wayne County Canvassers. pic.twitter.com/Vb2TRpiLdJ
— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) November 17, 2020
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