State Audit Finds No Voter Fraud in Detroit’s November Election

The Michigan Bureau of Elections says human error caused uncountable ballots.

A Michigan Bureau of Elections audit found a handful of ballot problems in Detroit’s November election resulted from human error.

The state says there was no evidence of pervasive voter fraud or widespread equipment failure in November.

State Elections Director Chris Thomas says the biggest cause of problems was negligence among ballot inspectors.

“There were about 39 precincts, where the election inspectors left some or a large portion of the ballots in the tub below the tabulator and did not put them into a sealed ballot container and bring them to Detroit Elections,” Thomas says.

Thomas calls this a major failure.

He says other mistakes included improper use of the electronic poll book and incorrectly issuing provisional envelope ballots. 

Author

  • Bre'Anna Tinsley
    Bre'Anna Tinsley is a reporter for Detroit Public Radio, 101.9 WDET. She covers city government and housing, as well as co-hosting the "Detroit Evening Report" podcast.