Recount

Yesterday I participated in a recount of votes for the position of Supervisor of Presque Isle Township.  Patrick Pokorski, the Democratic candidate, requested the recount.  He was allowed to bring another person with him, and was kind enough to ask me.

The problem was not a wafer-thin victory by Brent Koel, the Republican candidate.  Rather, the issue which triggered Patrick's request was an inordinate delay in completing the voting process in the Township and reported problems with voting machines.  Our votes did not arrive at the County Clerk's Office in Rogers City until after 2:00 a.m.  That was five hours after the polls closed.  Most states had long since reported their results!  We were told that the electronic voting machines, which tally the paper ballots, repeatedly refused to accept ballots.  Were the machines operating properly?  Were the votes counted properly?  Inquiring minds wanted to know!

Poll Closing Times.  Michigan's polls
closed at 9:00 p.m. EST.  But it was five more
hours until the Township reported its results.

To answer these questions, the County Election Board did a hand recount under the direction of the County Clerk.  We started at 2:00 p.m. and finished a little after 5:00.  A total of 1,144 ballots were processed.  That is a commendable turnout in a township with about 1,530 voters.

The first step was to open the sealed ballot box and confirm that, indeed, 1,144 ballots were found.  That took almost 45 minutes.  Then two members of the Election Board read off the votes on each ballot, first indicating if the voter had voted a straight party ballot, and then which Supervisor candidate the person had voted for.

Some who voted a straight Republican ticket also voted for Patrrick, a Democrat; and some who voted a straight Democratic ticket voted for Brent, a Republican.  I was not aware until yesterday that a vote for a specific candidate trumps a straight party ticket.

Patrick and I stood behind the ballot callers, checking their work.  The other two Election Board members and the Clerk made separate tallies which had to agree at the end.  They did!  Trust me, no one wanted to count all those ballots a second time!

2012 Results by County.  Presque Isle
is up at the top of Lower Michigan,
in decidedly Republican (Red) territory.

The final tally was almost exactly as originally reported.  The recount awarded one additional vote to Brent Koel.  Final results: Koel — 626 votes; Pokorski — 471 votes; and 47 voters were "no vote" for the Supervisor's race.  Koel won by a margin of 155 votes.  It appears that the cranky voting machines did their job, but not without considerable difficulty.  Isn't technology supposed to make this process quicker and easier?  In any case, if this race was correctly tabulated, then I think we can assume the same for all the other races.

I genuinely appreciated the opportunity to witness this process.  With all the controversy surrounding voting in this election (redistricting, voter ID and voter suppression, reduced hours, voters waiting hours on line), it's comforting to know that local officials take so seriously their obligation to conduct a fair and honest election. •••