The Michigan Republican Party on Saturday urged the state’s election officials to postpone certification by adjourning for two weeks to allow for a “full audit and investigation” of Wayne County’s results amid claims of “numerical anomalies” and procedural irregularities.
The Michigan State Board of Canvassers is scheduled to meet on Monday, Nov. 23, to decide whether to certify the results of the election or seek more time to review the results. Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Laura Cox, chairwoman of the Michigan GOP, urged the board in a letter (pdf) to adjourn for 14 days and carry out a “full, transparent audit” that will allow “all Michiganders to have confidence in the results.”
“This board faces a stark choice,” they wrote. “It can either ignore numerical anomalies and credible reports of procedural irregularities, leaving the distrust and sense of procedural disenfranchisement felt by many Michigan voters to fester for years; or it can adjourn for fourteen days to allow for a full audit and investigation into those anomalies and irregularities before certifying the results.”
James is contesting the results of his race against Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) in the Nov. 3 election and hasn’t conceded yet. The unofficial result shows that James is behind Peters by around 92,000 votes or a gap of about 1.7 percentage points.
“I submit this request because I am interested in the truth and protecting the integrity of our elections,” James said in his statement.
“Sometimes the truth takes time to surface, and it’s rarely easy to get to. Time is the most valuable asset we have at this stage and I ask that we take all the time reasonable and allowed—not to undermine our elections—but to improve them and boost public confidence in the results of the election,” he wrote.
James said there were multiple reports of irregularities and abnormalities in Detroit’s TCF Center on the night of the election, such as poll challengers and poll workers reported feeling harassed and unable to do their jobs.
