GOP Claims Software Error Switched 6,000 Republican Votes to Democrat; Disputed by Secretary of State

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks during the Trump Victory press conference in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., on Nov. 6, 2020. Elaine Cromie/Getty Images

Update: Michigan’s secretary of state’s office and Dominion Voting said that the GOP’s claims of software errors across Michigan are unfounded.

“There are no credible reports or evidence of any system software errors in Georgia or Michigan, including erroneous reporting of unofficial results from Antrim County, Michigan,” said Dominion in a statement to news outlets.

“The correct results always were and continue to be reflected on the tabulator totals tape and on the ballots themselves. Even if the error in the reported unofficial results had not been quickly noticed, it would have been identified during the county canvass. Boards of County Canvassers, which are composed of 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans, review the printed totals tape from each tabulator during the canvass to verify the reported vote totals are correct,” the secretary of state’s office also said.

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Earlier update:

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and other GOP officials said the fight over the presidential election isn’t over, saying that 47 counties in Michigan may have used software that was detected to have allocated votes to Democrat Joe Biden instead of President Donald Trump in one county.

“In Antrim County, ballots were counted for Democrats that were meant for Republicans causing a 6,000-vote swing against our candidates,” Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox said in a news conference Friday. “The county clerk came forward and said tabulating software glitched and caused a miscalculation of the votes.”

Cox added: “Since then, we have now discovered that 47 counties use this same software in the same capacity. Antrim County had to hand count all of the ballots, and these counties that use this software needs to closely examine their results for similar discrepancies.”

A number of news outlets, including The Associated Press and Decision Desk, have declared Michigan for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Biden is currently leading Trump by about 146,000 votes.

After a  discrepancy was found in Antrim County, election officials reviews the ballots. Updated results showed Trump winning the county.

In one instance in Oakland County, a computer error led officials to declare Democrat Melanie Hartman the winner before they reversed it and declared incumbent Adam Kochenderfer, a Republican, the winner of the Oakland County’s 15th county commission District, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“I thought that was that,” Kochenderfer said. “Those were the results, and I said I would not seek a recount.”

Oakland County Director of Elections Joe Rozell told the paper that the error was due to a computer issue at a city clerk’s office. He didn’t elaborate on the issue or if it was the same software used in Antrim County.

“A computer issue in Rochester Hills caused them to send us results for seven precincts as both precinct votes and absentee votes. They should only have been sent to us as absentee votes,” Rozell said.

Poll workers tabulate absentee ballots at the TCF Center during Election Day in Detroit, Mich., Nov. 3, 2020. Rebecca Cook/Reuters

The RNC has deployed legal teams to Michigan. No lawsuit has yet to be announced over the software, made by Dominion Voting Systems.

“We will not give up on this process until every last issue has been resolved,” McDaniel said in the news conference.

Cox and McDaniel also alleged that there were irregularities in Detroit, asserting that Republican poll-watchers were denied access to the vote-counting process in some places.

The Michigan Board of Elections has not yet responded to a request for comment about Cox’s claims.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, called the claims outlined in the GOP press conference false.

“Michigan’s elections were conducted fairly, effectively and transparently and are an accurate reflection of the will of Michigan voters,” she said in a statement, adding that skewed results in Antrim County were the result of a human error, not a software error, and that there were always challengers from both parties in the room while ballots were being counted in Detroit.

The Michigan Democratic Party also responded to the claims of misconduct.

“The clerks in Michigan have done an incredible job this, and every election cycle, despite little to no support from the Republican-controlled legislature,” said Party Chair Lavora Barnes to MLive. “We join local clerks in calling for reforms to the election system that will decrease legislative barriers and provide clerks additional resources to allow them to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.”

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.