LANSING – More than 500 local units of government in Michigan do not have clerks who are fully accredited to run an election, according to an audit released Friday.

Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler found that 32 counties, 83 cities and 426 townships lack fully accredited clerks.

The finding, part of an audit of the Bureau of Elections at the Michigan Secretary of State, raises questions about Michigan’s election readiness heading into 2020.

Michigan election law requires local clerks to participate in accreditation courses and complete continuing education at least once every two years to maintain accreditation.

But the auditor found many counties, cities and townships lacked a clerk with that up-to-date accreditation. The auditor also checked to see whether any other election official was fully accredited and found 12 counties, 38 cities, and 290 townships where no election official had full accreditation.

Those included:

In Wayne County, the cities of Plymouth, Highland Park, Harper Woods, Ecorse, and Wayne.

In Oakland County, the city of Rochester and Holly Township.

In Macomb County, the cities of Memphis, New Baltimore and Roseville.

"We recommend that (the bureau) improve its process to promote accreditation to help ensure that local election officials are fully trained and updated on Michigan's election process," the report said.

Several local clerks pushed back against the contents of the audit.

In Ecorse, City Clerk Dana Hughes said the information in the audit is incorrect. Hughes said both she and her deputy were accredited in 2014 and since then have remained compliant with required updates every two years.

"That's a lie," Hughes said. "I've always had my accreditation."

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The audit is a snapshot in time, based on records in May of this year, and it is possible some local clerks and other election officials have received full accreditation since the report was released.

The audit noted that the law requires the state Bureau of Elections to establish comprehensive training and an accreditation program for all local election officials, and it requires local clerks to participate in both accreditation and ongoing learning. But the law does not empower the Bureau of Elections to force participation.

In Highland Park, City Clerk Brenda Green said she has "done everything the state has asked me to do to stay accredited," and "I can't understand how that information is incorrect."

"I will be reaching out to them," Green said.

In Memphis, Clerk/Treasurer Donna Janssens said her deputy clerk is not yet accredited, because she was just hired.

"I'll have to look into this," Janssens said. "I believe I am up to date on everything."

Kelly Miller, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Auditor General's Office, said, as of Friday, neither Hughes nor Janssens are shown in Bureau of Elections records as being fully up-to-date on their accreditations. Each still has a couple of days to become current before the end of the year, she said. Information on Green's status as of Friday was not immediately available.

The Free Press also left email and/or telephone messages seeking comment Friday with clerks in the other Wayne, Oakland and Macomb municipalities cited in the report. A few of those offices were closed for the holidays.

The auditor called on the Bureau of Elections to assign more training and give clerks additional notifications of their statutory training requirements. The audit also recommended that the bureau find a better way to keep each clerk and election official informed of their current accreditation status.

In a response, the bureau said it would do that to the extent possible. It also said "the primary issue involves completion of ongoing training assignments (continuing education). It said participation in the initial clerk accreditation program is extremely high.

The audit said the bureau prepares a wide range of training materials and makes them available to local clerks in a variety of ways.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.