Michigan county pushes for hand recount of 2020 election results

A Michigan county on Tuesday voted in favor of seeking a hand recount of 2020 presidential election results, citing “concerns” and “questions” from constituents on the accuracy of vote tallies. 

In a 4-3 decision, the Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners voted to send a letter to the Michigan’s elections director formally requesting that the rural northern Michigan county “conduct a hand recount of … presidential election ballots,” overseen by an “accredited election auditor,” according to text of the letter included in the commission’s meeting agenda. 

The request, signed by the county commission’s chairman, John Wallace, says that comparing a hand recount of the ballots to the electronic vote results that were reported would reveal “whether the actual vote tally for the presidential election within Cheboygan County was accurately reported by the county’s Dominion vote tabulator and Election System and Software machine,” and thus, to state election officials. 

The requested probe also seeks whether “the county’s Dominion vote tabulator and/or Election System and Software machine was actually in communication with any unauthorized computer and whether there is any evidence that any unauthorized computer actually manipulated the actual presidential election vote tally within Cheboygan County.”

The request comes as the latest in a series of GOP-led efforts in states to recount election ballots based on unsupported allegations from former President Trump and his supporters that the election was riddled with fraud, including voting machines used by Dominion Voting Systems. 

The claims have been debunked through dozens of lawsuits rejected by courts in several states, and President Biden’s electoral win has been certified by local and state officials, as well as Congress.

According to The Associated Press, Trump won Cheboygan County by 64 percent of the vote, though Biden came out victorious in Michigan overall by 2.8 percentage points, or 154,000 votes. 

Tuesday’s Cheboygan County vote is now set to go to the office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D), who has said that hundreds of audits conducted across the state have already shown the election to be fair and accurate. 

Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for Benson, told the AP that the office would review the letter and respond to the county commissioners. 

A GOP state representative in Michigan on Tuesday introduced a bill proposing a statewide audit of the 2020 election results, a move that has been backed by conservative groups in the state. 

Others across the country have also sought to implement reviews similar to the one being conducted in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which Democrats and elections experts have accused of containing security lapses and unfounded conspiracy theories. 

Pennsylvania state Sen. David Argall (R), who heads the Senate State Government Committee that has oversight of election administration, said Monday that he would support an audit of election results in his state, citing widespread mistrust in election results among his constituents.