Washtenaw County completes partial recount of Proposal 22-3 race
Washtenaw County’s portion of the state-wide partial recount of Proposal 22-3 was originally estimated to take 2-3 days to complete at a cost of $10,000 per day, with only $10,875 total eligible to receive in reimbursement from the deposit paid by the recount petitioner. All other costs would have been borne by county taxpayers. However, thanks to dozens of individuals who responded to the call to serve as recount assistants on very short notice, the job was completed in one day.
submitted by Washtenaw County Clerk/Register of Deeds Office
The state-wide partial recount of Proposal 22-3 is now complete in Washtenaw County. On Monday, December 12, more than 50 assistants, coordinated by the Washtenaw County Clerk’s office Elections Division, gathered to perform a hand recount of the “Reproductive Freedom” proposal that appeared on the November 8, 2022, General Election Ballot.
A total of 51,998 ballots cast by City of Ann Arbor voters were recounted in a single day.
The result of the recount was a net gain of 11 “yes” votes and a net loss of 2 “no” votes cast on the proposal. The updated official tally for all ballots cast in Washtenaw County is now 136,366 “yes” votes in favor of the proposal and 42,853 “no” votes against the proposal.
Complete results from the recount are available at Washtenaw.org/Elections.
County Clerk / Register of Deeds Lawrence Kestenbaum explained that a very few ballots get interpreted differently by the human versus the electronic eye. “For example, if someone marked the NO spot, but then crossed it out and voted YES, the tabulator would count that as an overvote, because both spots were marked. However, a human examining that ballot during a recount would recognize the intent.”
He went on: “Nonetheless, the difference between the hand count and the electronically tabulated numbers was tiny. A total variance of 13 votes across nearly 52,000 ballots represents an error rate less than 3/100 of 1%. It’s a dramatic demonstration of the accuracy of our equipment.”
Recount teams reviewed ballots cast in-person on Election Day as well as those cast by absentee voters in 44 of the City of Ann Arbor’s 53 voting precincts. Proposal 22-3 was the only race recounted in Washtenaw County.
More than 50 recount assistants, including city and township clerks and their staff, county staff, and poll workers from around county, completed the recount in a single day, ahead of schedule.
Washtenaw County’s portion of the state-wide partial recount was originally estimated to take 2-3 days to complete at a cost of approximately $10,000 per day. The county is eligible to receive only $10,875 in reimbursement from the deposit paid by the recount petitioner. All other costs would have been borne by county taxpayers.
Washtenaw County Director of Elections Ed Golembiewski states: “We are grateful to the dozens of individuals that responded to our call to serve as a recount assistant on very short notice. They deserve to be commended for working diligently to complete the recount accurately and ahead of schedule, demonstrating the accuracy of election results while saving county taxpayers from bearing most of the cost of this effort.”
The recount was conducted under the authority of the Board of State Canvassers, who authorized the proceedings after receiving a petition, and payment of a deposit, from Bloomfield Township voter Jerome Jay Allen. Under Michigan law, an individual who has cast a vote on a state proposal has the right to request a recount of that proposal by submitting a petition and deposit that would partially offset the costs of conducting the recount.
43 counties are performing a hand recount of some number of ballots as a result of this petition.
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