Michigan removes Upper Peninsula clerks from election duty over planned hand count

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two county clerks in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula were removed from their election duties this week after they planned to hand out vote counts for Tuesday’s election, state officials said.

Director of Elections Jonathan Brother said in an email Monday that Rock River Clerk Tom Shirkolk and Deputy Clerk David Lamer intend to conduct a manual vote count before the county’s canvassing process.

Under Michigan law, jurisdictions must use voting machines to tally votes.

Rock River is located approximately 27 miles (43.45 kilometers) from Marquette, Michigan and has a population of just over 1,200 people as of the 2020 census.

Township election duties will be transferred to Rock River’s deputy treasurer with the assistance of a nearby clerk, Brother wrote, “to ensure public trust and confidence in the integrity and security of the election.”

The letter was first reported by the New York Times. The Associated Press left phone and email messages with Shirkolk and Lamer’s office.

Research shows that machine counting is faster and more accurate than manual counting. In his letter, Brater noted that the proper procedure after the polls close is to store the consolidated ballots in “secure containers with sealed digits.”

According to the New York Times, Shirkolk insisted in an interview that the hand count would be legal under the state constitution.

Brater wrote that failure to comply with the order by his office, which is run by the Michigan secretary of state, is a criminal misdemeanor.

“Your past actions and statements detailed in previous letters indicate that you and the deputy secretary are unwilling to fulfill your duties as secretary,” Brother said.

As former President Donald Trump and his allies spread lies claiming that widespread fraud cost Trump the 2020 election, some Republicans have sought to replace modern voting machines with a more time-consuming, error-prone manual counting process, despite the lack of evidence of widespread fraud or large violation.

In 2023, a Republican clerk in Shelby Township, Michigan, was banned by the state from running elections after he was accused of acting as a fraudulent voter in 2020 for then-President Donald Trump. He has pleaded not guilty and is running for re-election as Shelby Township Clerk.