John Wisely

Detroit Free Press

Detroit's election paperwork was in such disarray that the Wayne County Board of Canvassers almost missed its two-week deadline to certify the presidential election.

Ninty-five poll books, lists of people who cast ballots, were delivered late to the board. Five of those precincts never did turn in a poll book, according to a memo from the Wayne County Clerk's Office to state election officials.

"We had to delay the start of the meeting," said Krista Hartounian, chairwoman of the Board of Canvassers. "Staff was still working as we called the meeting to order."

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Hartounian said she didn't want to criticize Detroit, which has improved its election work in recent years.

"This time Detroit did have problems that it didn't have before," she said.

Other problems found in Detroit's handing of the election included 13 precincts that turned in poll books with missing voters. Staffers working for the board of canvassers were forced to flip through hundreds of individual voter applications to compile the count of people who voted in those precincts.

Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey defended her office's handling of the 2016 presidential election, telling the Free Press on Wednesday that the city has struggled to attract poll workers in recent years.

Detroit's problems were exposed during a statewide recount effort by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, which was later halted by a court before it could be completed.

The recount effort also showed that 392 of Detroit's 662 precincts couldn't be recounted because the number of ballots in the ballot box didn't match the number of people listed as voting in the poll book. Some had too many ballots, others, not enough.

Among the discrepancies found by Wayne County were: