Politics

‘This Isn’t Normal’: Too Many Votes In 37% Of Detroit Precincts

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Justin Caruso Contributor
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After vote irregularities have been found in over one third of Detroit precincts, the state of Michigan will now audit precincts with significant errors.

In 248 of Detroit’s 662 precincts, more votes were recorded on voter machines than should have been in the November presidential election, The Detroit News reports.

The state will audit the 20 precincts that showed significant problems. The audit was triggered by shocking results at one polling place where 306 people were recorded to have voted, but only 52 ballots were found sealed in the container.

Krista Haroutunian, chairwoman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, told press this week, “There’s always going to be small problems to some degree, but we didn’t expect the degree of problem we saw in Detroit. This isn’t normal.”

Officials downplayed speculation about voter fraud.

“We don’t have any suspicion of fraud. We generally approach this as human error,” said Chris Thomas, director of elections for Michigan.

Patrick Colbeck, a Republican Michigan state senator, called the audit a “good place to start” in figuring out if “fraudulent procedures” were used in counting ballots or not.

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