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Michigan
election
staff
recommend
certification
of Biden
win
By
ED WHITE
apnews.com
DETROIT
-
Michigan’s
election
agency
on
Friday
recommended
that the
Nov. 3
results
be
certified
next
week by
state
canvassers,
a
decision
that
would
bless
Joe
Biden’s
victory
over
President
Donald
Trump
but
likely
not cool
partisan
strife
over the
vote.
The
recommendation
was
posted
online
with the
formal
Monday
meeting
notice
of the
Board of
State
Canvassers.
The
guidance
came at
the end
of a
stormy
week in
which
Trump
summoned
Republican
state
lawmakers
to the
White
House on
Friday
in an
extraordinary
effort
to try
to set
aside
Biden’s
154,000-vote
victory.
On
Tuesday,
GOP
canvassers
in
Michigan’s
largest
county,
Wayne,
refused
to
certify
local
results
but then
changed
their
position
after
hours of
intense
public
criticism
over
Zoom.
Then
after
talking
to
Trump,
they
said a
day
later
they
were
rescinding
their
previous
vote but
it was
too
late.
The
state
Bureau
of
Elections
said all
of
Michigan’s
83
counties
had sent
their
certified
results
to
Lansing.
“As
in past
elections,
some
jurisdictions
made
errors
in
reporting
unofficial
results
on
election
night,”
the
staff
memo
said.
“These
errors
are all
attributable
to human
error in
the
operation
of tools
used to
report
unofficial
results,
did not
affect
the
actual
tabulation
of votes
and were
identified
and
corrected
either
prior to
or
during
the
county
canvass.”
Biden
defeated
Trump by
more
than
150,000
votes,
according
to
unofficial
returns,
while
Democratic
U.S.
Sen.
Gary
Peters
defeated
Republican
John
James by
more
than
90,000
votes.
At
least
71.9% of
Detroit
precincts
were
balanced,
meaning
the
number
of
ballots
matched
the
number
of names
in a
poll
book, a
“substantial
improvement”
over the
August
primary,
the
Bureau
of
Elections
said.
Trump
gained a
higher
percentage
of votes
in
Detroit
compared
to 2016.
His
performance,
as well
as
James’,
undermines
the
“suggestion
that
irregularities
affecting
the
outcome
of the
election
occurred
on any
significant
scale,”
the
bureau
said.
James
wants
state
canvassers
to hold
off on
any
certification
until an
audit of
Wayne
County’s
results
can be
performed.
Michigan
election
law
experts
noted
that the
work of
the
Board of
State
Canvassers
— two
Republicans
and two
Democrats
— is
limited.
“Their
duties
are to
receive
the
canvass
and
certify
the
canvass,
that’s
it,”
said
John
Pirich,
a former
assistant
attorney
general.
“There
should
be no
dispute
on what
they can
or
cannot
do. The
statute
is
absolutely
clear.”
Senate
Majority
Leader
Mike
Shirkey
and
House
Speaker
Lee
Chatfield,
both
Republicans,
released
a
statement
after
meeting
Trump,
saying
they
weren’t
aware of
any
information
that
would
change
the
results
in
Michigan.
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