Michigan's Wayne County Board of Canvassers reverses course, certifies election results

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers in Michigan voted unanimously Tuesday night to certify the results of the Nov. 3 election, after earlier reaching a deadlock when the two Republican members voted against certifying the results and the two Democrats voted in favor.

Wayne County, home to Detroit, is Michigan's largest county, and the unofficial election results showed Biden with 67.99 percent of the votes cast and President Trump with 30.59 percent. New York Times correspondent Kathy Gray tweeted that the "decision to actually certify the election came after about three hours of voters loudly calling out the board for trying to disenfranchise Detroit voters."

Earlier in the meeting, the board's Republican chairwoman, Monica Palmer, said that because there are discrepancies between the number of absentee ballots recorded as being cast and the number of absentee ballots counted, "we do not have have complete and accurate information on those poll books." In response, Democratic vice chairman Jonathan Kinloch said that "most of this is human error. ... It's not based on fraud."

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In addition to certifying the results, the board also voted to direct Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) to "do a comprehensive audit of the out-of-balance precincts," Gray tweeted. She added that the board did not explain why it "basically said never mind, we changed our minds and certified the results."