GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A clerical, human error triggered a recount of two local school board races.
On the Statement of Votes and Certificate of Determination— an official document that lists the winners and results of each of the county’s races— some winners were incorrectly transposed next to the wrong vote count.
The documents incorrectly listed the wrong candidate as the winner of a partial term on the Kelloggsville Public School Board, and listed the wrong candidates next to vote totals in a race for a seat on the Grand Rapids Public School Board.
Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus-Lyons said the recount won’t affect the results of the race because the vote totals were accurate. Instead, the recounts are a move of transparency, and an effort to make sure the paperwork reflects the results accurately.
“Because we are past the time frame for the board of canvassers to certify, we can’t just simply correct these documents and resign them,” she said. “So therefore, our course of action at this time is to, short of going too court was to do a recount.”
Posthumus-Lyons said all affected candidates were notified before the documents were made public and the schools were notified. She added that her office hasn’t received any pushback on the results or the decision to hold a corrective recount.
“Everybody’s been very gracious and understanding and for that I’m so appreciative,” she said. “It’s unfortunate to have any errors in our election but to have it be a clerical error, that we can remedy, that there’s a cure for, where the candidates all know exactly what their outcome was and that outcome will not change, that’s something that I do take to heart.”
“Errors can happen and that’s why our checks and balances at all stages of the process are really crucial,” Posthumus-Lyons continued. “Most importantly, Kent County’s election results are accurate.”
 Kent County Clerk |  Kent County Clerk |
“This is a simple clerical error, and we are confident that the results will be properly certified according to law soon,” Sara Melton, one of the affected candidates in the GRPS board race, told FOX 17.
Melton won her race, but her name was listed next to a lesser vote total obtained by another candidate.
“I am relieved to know that the outcomes are still expected to be the same as were posted the week of elections and look forward to joining the school board in January,” Melton added. “While they work on these details, this community remains my priority. I'll continue preparing to make the impact I promised.”
Recounts, per state law, typically require a candidate to pay for the process. Since this was a clerical error on the part of the clerk’s office, the recount will be funded with money from the clerk’s budget.
“We are not going to charge those candidates to conduct this recount,” said Posthumus-Lyons. “In this instance, this was no fault of any candidate, this isn’t their questioning of the outcome of the election, because this was a clerical error on our end.”
There hasn’t been a date set for the recount process to begin, but Posthumus-Lyons said it should take place sometime next week.
“It’s a large undertaking, it truly is, but it is worth the time, it’s worth the effort, to make sure that our documents are accurate,” she said. “Truly, this is nothing more than a clerical error.”
