A Wayne County judge on Wednesday ordered the Detroit City Clerk’s Office to follow election transparency laws after a lawsuit alleged officials began processing and tabulating absentee ballots early without public notice.
Robert Davis, a citizen watchdog, filed the emergency lawsuit against the clerk’s office on Monday, alleging the city began processing and tabulating absentee ballots last week without taking the legal steps required to do so.
Davis says the case before Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Patricia Fresard opens the door for mayoral and city council candidates who lost Tuesday’s primary election to demand a recount.
“It provides the unsuccessful candidates with an avenue to challenge the election results for their particular race,” Davis tells Metro Times.
Stopping short of ruling that the clerk’s office violated the law, Fresard ordered the city to confirm it will comply with the law going forward and asked Davis to “recommend what procedural changes need to go into effect in order to ensure transparency occurs in future elections,” he says.
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In the lawsuit, Davis claimed the clerk’s office failed to publicly post the days that the ballots were being processed, how many were tabulated, and the names of the election inspectors. That’s important because election monitors and challengers have the right to be present during the process, but they “don’t know where and when it’s happening,” Davis says.
The Detroit Election Commission also failed to establish an absent voting counting board for each election day precinct in the city, Davis contends. In addition, the city council is mandated to approve the locations where the boards tabulate the ballots, but that never happened either, according to Davis’s lawsuit.
Davis reported the alleged violations to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and Secretary of State’s Office, but neither would address the claims, he says. A spokesperson for the SOS Office counters that Davis requested an intervention the evening before he said he was going to file a lawsuit, not giving officials enough time to respond.
Beginning last year, state law began allowing clerks up to eight days before an election to process and tabulate absentee ballots to expedite a process that has delayed results by hours and even days. The process includes verifying the voter’s signature on the return envelope, opening it, and preparing the ballot for counting. But to process and tabulate absentee ballots early, state law requires clerks to follow steps that were ignored.
Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach the clerk’s office for comment.
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield and Rev. Solomon Kinloch Jr. were named the winners of Tuesday’s primary and are set for the general election in November.
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This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2025.
