In the latest round of the vote count saga, Mike Duggan may have received about 4,000 more votes than the city originally counted.
That's right. More.
According to the Detroit Free Press, an affidavit filed by State Elections Director Chris Thomas says the state found Duggan actually won 48,716 votes. The original count gave him 44,395 votes and the second count, which eliminated improperly counted ballots, awarded Duggan 22,970 votes.
Second-place finisher Benny Napoleon remained at 28,391 votes.
But let's go back to the beginning for a moment. On primary night, the Detroit City Clerk's office originally found that Duggan received 44,395 votes.
The Wayne County Board of Canvassers was expected to certify that vote, but they refused to because of some confusion between hash marks and written numbers that left about 18,000 votes uncounted. The vote certification duties were then kicked up to the state.
Before the state was able to make sense of anything, City Clerk candidate D. Etta Wilcoxon filed a lawsuit that claimed the state did not have the authority to certify the vote. Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk halted the vote certification process until a hearing at 2PM on Tuesday.
The affidavit filed by that state in response to this lawsuit also says that Michigan law requires the vote to be certified by Tuesday, and that state election law doesn't explain what happens if it isn't.
Regardless, Mike Duggan and Napoleon will face off in the November 5 general election.
