The Wall Street Journal: Michigan ballot count in limbo after Wayne County can’t certify results

Detroit election workers work on counting absentee ballots on Nov. 4.

AFP/Getty Images

A canvassing board for the Michigan county that includes Detroit deadlocked over certifying the Nov. 3 election results, state officials said, casting uncertainty over the ballot count in Michigan where President-elect Joe Biden leads by about 145,000 votes.

To certify the election, the four-member Wayne County Board of Canvassers, with two Republicans and two Democrats, must secure three votes. The board deadlocked 2-2 in a party-line vote.

The board meeting continued Tuesday evening, but if the vote holds, the matter would next go to a state board.

Detroit’s elections operations have been the subject of lawsuits and partisan fights since the election. President Donald Trump’s campaign and other Republicans have accused Wayne County of mismanaging absentee ballot-counting operations and allowing possible fraud in the counting.

Unofficial results show Wayne County helped provide Biden’s margin of victory in Michigan. Biden won more than 68% of the vote in Wayne County, with more than 587,000 votes, to Trump’s 264,149.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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November 18, 2020 at 02:01PM

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