DETROIT – Election officials are getting a head start inside Detroit’s TCF Center on Monday -- opening envelopes, matching ballots and voters and logging them into the state system, and setting the ballots aside to be counted on Tuesday’s Election Day.
For most of the day, things went smoothly. Police only had to turn away two people, including a man who wore a mask into the counting center and tried to lecture reporters before being escorted out.
As of Monday, more than 2.6 million absentee votes have been returned statewide with at least another 700,000 expected to arrive by Tuesday. Among some concerns are ballots that may be rejected. So far, less than 1% of ballots have been thrown out.
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However, over recent days, fear about a slow count has been mounting along with hints from President Donald Trump that he may challenge results or call the election before the count is through. On Sunday, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said that it won’t be up to anyone except the state.
“Candidates don’t get to choose who wins an election, the voters do. And myself and the 1,500 clerks and 83 county clerks all across the state will be vigilantly committed to counting every ballot vote,” Benson said.
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