KENT COUNTY, Mich. — On Monday December 5, the Board of State Canvassers voted 3-0 for a partial recount of Proposals 2 and 3 to move forward after a petition was filed by an Oakland County man a few days prior on that Friday.
Immediately, various precincts throughout the state began recounting the ballots for Prop 2, on voting rights, and Prop 3, on reproductive rights, with observers and challengers at each site.
Monday, it began in Kent County at Grand Rapids Public Schools University.
“This is a huge undertaking. This is what’s called a partial statewide recount. So, we are not recounting all of Kent County. We’re recounting the precincts that the petitioner requested. So, here in Kent County that’s the City of Grand Rapids and five precincts in Kentwood” said Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons during an interview with Fox 17. “Plus, we’re doing, at the same time, the recount in one precinct in the city of Grand Rapids for the Grand Rapids Public Schools board of education.”
RIGHT NOW: Partial recount is underway in Kent County. Last week the Board of State Canvassers approved the partial recount of Props 2 & 3. Today, at GRPS Univ., 30 count teams are recounting Prop 3 & the GRPS Board of Education. // @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/Vubuti8Ha1
— Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) December 12, 2022
Posthumus Lyons said there were 30 teams of two recounting each of the ballots by hand. They first have to make sure that the number of ballots that they have matches the number that’s recorded. Once that the determined then the actual recounting begins.
“They recount the yeses, the no’s, and they discard any, if folks didn’t vote in that race or if they voted for both yes and no, that’s discarded,” Posthumus Lyons said. “And then what they’ll find if anything is different than what was certified then the results from this recount become the officials results.”
Mark Brewer, general counsel for Promote the Vote, an organization that’s been identified by the State Board of Canvassers as an interested party said he’s been observing the election recount since it began last week and so far there have not been many changes.
“Unfortunately, the challengers who sought the recount have not been behaving very well. There’s been at least one challenger who’s been ejected for misbehavior,” Brewer said during a Zoom interview on Monday morning. “They’ve been very aggressive and rude at many of the sites. They don’t understand the election law, and they’re making challenges and asking questions that have no basis in fact.”
He said a few of the challengers have been requesting to see the entire ballots, which is not allowed. And, that they’ve been making claims of “over votes” and that the entire ballot should get thrown out, which he said is also not allowed.
“The goal is to ensure that the votes were accurately tabulated. That’s it,” Brewer said. “So, instead of putting the ballots through the machine again Lauren they are hand counted by a person under everybody’s watchful eye.”
Brewer, like the Board of State Canvassers, said that the recount will not impact the election results.
The recount is expected to last all week, Posthumus Lyons said. It may even extend into next week, and the public is invited to watch.
“In Kent County we’re very transparent. Transparency is a really key to helping voters have confidence in their elections,” Posthumus Lyons said. “So I want people to know that they’re welcomed and they’re encouraged to come out and watch the process play out. We just think it’s really important part of our checks and balances in our elections to help give voters the assurance, especially that Kent County is secure, transparent, fair, and accurate.”
