Optical scan machines failed to detect 2% of the votes for Township Clerk because the marks were too light. Originally, the machines reported that challenger Kris Tabler had lost to incumbent Jim Nielsen, 791-786.*

But Tabler paid for a recount in all seven township precincts, and the Muskegon County Board of Canvassers spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday inspecting the ballots by hand. When they finished, the result was startlingly different.

Tabler won the election over Nielsen by two votes, 804-802. Jerry Young, the candidate who finished a distant third, received 258 votes in the recount.

Overall, the recount revealed the existence of 39 more votes cast in the clerk's race than the original count did.

... Obviously the canvassers, counting by hand, were able to read some ballots that the computer "optical scan" machines didn't pick up, said Tom Higgins, chairman of the county board of canvassers. It's also possible that the machines simply read some ballots wrong.