Republicans in Antrim County, Michigan knew something wasn’t right.
In 2016, President Donald Trump received 64% of the vote there to Hillary Clinton’s 32%.
However, on Wednesday morning Antrim polls showed Joe Biden with a 3,000 vote lead.
“There is no way that we flipped from 62 percent Trump in 2016 to upside down this time around,” Michigan State House Representative Tristan Cole said on Interlochen Public Radio.
Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Gray investigated the matter.
Gray told The Detroit Free Press the “results on electronic tapes and a computer card were accurate but it appeared that some of the results were somehow scrambled after the cards were transported in sealed bags from township precincts to county offices and downloaded onto a computer.”
Whatever the cause, the issue was caught, addressed and fixed by an astute county clerk.
But according to Michigan GOP Chairman Laura Cox, “47 counties use this same software in the same capacity,” including Wayne County (Detroit).
In a written interview with The Michigan Star, Michigan Secretary of State Press Secretary Tracy Wimmer called the glitch a “user error” instead of a software error. Wimmer continued:
Dominion is one of three election management system vendors approved by the state. Dominion is used by 65 counties. A breakdown by county is available here:
https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8716_45458—,00.html
There is no evidence that the software did not function properly and there is no reason to think this user error occurred anywhere else. Notably, the error did not affect how ballots were actually counted or how votes were recorded on the tabulator that counts the ballots. Even if the issue had not been caught after the reporting of unofficial results, it would have been identified during the county canvass when the canvassers review the paper record the votes cast on the tabulator.
The Star reached out to Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy but had not been able to make contact before this story published. The Star will update this developing story.
_ _ _
Jack Windsor is Managing Editor at both The Ohio Star and The Michigan Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV and The Virginia Star. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ballot Machine” by Lance Fisher CC BY-SA 2.0.
