With so much discussion of potential “election tampering,” it’s understandable that voters would like to be assured, substantively, that there’s no cause for concern here in Michigan. [1]
The best authority to address that here is Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum. He has served in this position since 2005, after having been elected himself, as a Democrat. Prior to that, he was perhaps most widely known for his “Political Graveyard” website. [2,3,4]
When Saline Journal sat down to discuss the current cycle, he was open to all questions and direct with all of his answers.
He began by explaining that the structure here in Michigan is unique among states. It is “very decentralized.” Within Washtenaw County, there are twenty townships and six cities, one of which is Saline. Some have full time staff, others part time, meaning that they more heavily rely upon the resources of Mr Kestenbaum’s office. In all, there are 150 precincts in Washtenaw County, with five to ten election workers per precinct. [5]
“We have optical-scan ballots in Michigan,” he continued. “They are always marked, so there can be a hand-count of a machine count. That’s how we are very confident that 2016 had an accurate result. Additionally, ballots are kept for two years by federal law; they are available under the Freedom of Information Act for people who want to do recounts. It would be hard to tamper with that. [6,7,8]
In Michigan, there are three systems for this. Terri Lynn Land decided that, and I give her a lot of credit for that. And three systems were offered: Dominion, ES&S, and Hart InterCivic. Twelve years ago, the state paid all costs for county systems. Livingston, Oakland, Ottawa, and Washtenaw — we all went with Hart. That makes us part of a ‘Hart Users Group,’ which is headed by Oakland County. [9,10,11,12,13]
Monroe County went with Dominion. Wayne, Okland, and Macomb are all on different systems. If someone wanted to hack our elections, that would make it much harder. Michigan has the optimal system.
The idea that there might be ‘Russian interfearance’ is based in the thought that Russia has infinite resources and no worry of being caught. The fact that Jill Stein could contest those results meant that there was no real problem.” [14]
Anticipated record turnout, however, is another matter. As previously reported on Saline Journal, Larry Kestenbaum believes that voter numbers “will top 4.2 million,” making for our “highest turnout of any off-year election. That’s practically presidential election level turnout. [15,16]
On top of that, “The big thing that’s happening this year is absentee voting,” he said. “That’s handled by local administration. Ballots have to be sealed and validated without compromise. There are two ways to count them. One is through the same precinct where the vote would have been cast in person. In others, there is a ‘counting board.’ [17]
“The wild card is that we haven’t been without straight-party options in a hundred years.”
On September 22, absentee ballots had to be ready — largely driven by commitment to getting them into the hands of individuals in the military so that they might vote. Are there rules governing casting absentee ballots? Yes. As a practical matter, however, people who ask to vote through this means are not typically challenged. “Our goal is that if someone wants to vote, they should be able to vote.”
Mr Kestenbaum noted that “Absentees have been rising for a while. Thirty percent cast absentee, older people more than average.
“But it will take longer to vote in person this year. A third of people vote straight party, Democrat and Republican. That’s not an option now; they’ll have to mark each question this time.”
Take note of that, because patience does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Washtenaw County Clerk.
References
- “2016 Presidential Campaign Hacking Fast Facts” (October 17, 2018) CNN.
- “Clerk / Register of Deeds” Washtenaw County Michigan.
- “Lawrence Kestenbaum” Washtenaw County Michigan.
- Political Graveyard (home page).
- “Elections and Voter Information” Saline.
- “On Election Day, most voters use electronic or optical-scan ballots” Drew Desilver (November 8, 2016) Pew Research Center.
- “Document Retention Schedule” Michigan Bureau of Elections (February 26, 2013) State of Michigan.
- “Michigan Voter Information Center” State of Michigan.
- “Terri Lynn Land” Ballotpedia.
- “Help America Vote Act” US Election Assistance Commission.
- Dominion Voting (home page).
- ES&S Canada (home page).
- Hart InterCivic (home page).
- “How a Michigan election recount will work” Chad Livengood (November 28, 2016) The Detroit News.
- “County clerk Larry Kestenbaum: He’s bracing for a record turnout” Eve Silberman (October 2008) Ann Arbor Observer.
- “Former President Barack Obama Appears In Detroit To Headline Rally On Behalf of Michigan Democrat Candidates” Dell Deaton (October 27, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Absentee Voting” Secretary of State, State of Michigan.
