Hand count samples sought

Detroit election director aims to ease vote concerns

November 16, 2005

BY BEN SCHMITT     Detroit FREE PRESS
State elections officials are debating a request by Detroit Elections Director Gloria Williams to hand-count a sampling of votes from last week's city election.

The request came during a two-hour Board of Canvassers meeting Tuesday during which the public raised concerns about computer glitches, electronic ballots and vote-tampering rumors.

Williams said she wants to allay all residents' suspicions that something went wrong in the election.

"The only way we're going to dispel those worries is to do a hand count," she said Tuesday.

State Elections Director Chris Thomas said any hand count is tantamount to a recount and he doesn't think that's necessary. Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who also attended the meeting, agreed. The board is required to certify the election by Nov. 22 or Wayne County will begin overseeing the process.

Williams stressed that she only wants to do a sampling of hand counts from maybe five precincts.

Last week, the Free Press reported count discrepancies, and that Detroit elections officials lost track of ballots in nine precincts almost 3,000 votes and did not count them until two days after polls closed.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said Tuesday the discrepancies were because of test voting data entered into the system and incorrect data entry by election workers. Those problems have been rectified.

Meanwhile, Terese Walton, a Detroiter who attended the meeting, said a hand count would satisfy her fears.

"I think that someone could have done something to the computer system, it's an open modem," she said. "I think at least a sampling hand count will preserve the integrity of the votes."