Michigan Secretary of State Announces Post-Election Audit in Wayne County

A worker with the Detroit Department of Elections helps stack empty boxes used to organize absentee ballots after nearing the end of the absentee ballot count at the Central Counting Board in the TCF Center on November 4, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (Elaine Cromie/Getty Images)

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Thursday said a post-election audit is planned in Wayne County and other areas, saying that it is standard procedure for jurisdictions that have significant errors in their election reporting.

“The statewide risk-limiting audit will be accompanied by the routine local procedural audits that will review the accuracy and process of elections in local communities,” she wrote on Thursday. “Local procedural audits consider clerical errors identified during canvasses,” Benson wrote.

“This a typical, standard procedure following election certification, and one that will be carried out in Wayne County and any other local jurisdictions where the data shows any notable clerical errors following state certification of the November election,” she said.

According to the Detroit Free Press, risk-limiting audits involve inspecting a certain percentage of paper ballots cast in an area.

Her announcement came after two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers signed an affidavit saying they will rescind their vote earlier this week to certify the election results. Wayne County includes Detroit, the state’s largest city and a Democrat stronghold.

The two officials, William Hartmann and Monica Palmer said they are rescinding their votes because they believe the state would not carry out an audit of county precincts that had reporting issues and alleged irregularities. What’s more, Palmer said the abuse went so far as to have “threatened me and members of my family.”

“We deserve better—but more importantly, the American people deserve better—than to be forced to accept an outcome achieved through intimidation, deception, and threats of violence,” they said in the statement Wednesday night. “Wayne County voters need to have full confidence in this process.”

Benson’s spokeswoman, Tracy Wimmer, told news outlets that the move to rescind their votes is not a “legal mechanism,” and that “their job is done and the next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify.”