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    • The Battle Creek election issue undercounted thousands of absentee ballots
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    The Battle Creek election issue undercounted thousands of absentee ballots

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    LANSING — Unofficial election results in Battle Creek initially excluded several thousand votes. The discovery of a programming error and subsequent updates to the vote totals have made a competitive state legislature much closer, though Republicans are still on track to flip Michigan House under Democratic control once election officials certify results.

    Updated unofficial election results released by the Calhoun County Clerk’s office Friday afternoon narrowed the gap between Republican Steve Frisbie, who The Associated Press had declared the winner, and state Rep. Jim Haadsma, D-Battle Creek, who had been declared ousted. only 58 votes and put the result in dispute.

    Haadsma said Friday that he did not concede the race, while Frisbie declared victory. The results were listed as “unofficial” as of Friday evening. A bipartisan county board of canvassers will certify the outcome of the race. Haadsma could call for a recount.

    Angela Benander, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, said Battle Creek used two high-speed tabulators for absentee ballots, but due to a programming error, the reported numbers did not combine the results of the two tabs and instead excluded about half of the results.

    The updated results added more than 4,500 votes, according to an update of the county’s unofficial count for the presidential election.

    The AP called the House District 44 race for Haadsma’s opponent, Frisbie, based on unofficial results showing Frisbie with 52 percent of the vote, compared to 48 percent for Haadsma, which is close to a 1,400-vote margin.

    But Friday afternoon, the county updated its website to include votes that were omitted from previous reporting due to the scheduling error by the city of Battle Creek. The newly reported votes narrowed Frisbie’s margin of victory to 0.14 percentage points, the site said.

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    Frisbie said he learned of the mistake Thursday afternoon and joked that he used his finger refreshing the Calhoun County website to check for updates on the unofficial election results. “I think it’s a pretty slim margin, but it’s still a win,” he said after the vote totals were updated.

    When Haadsma learned of Friday’s vote update, he said he was still in standby mode. “I definitely think these are the most unofficial of the unofficial results,” he said.

    Haadsma said he personally did not receive any communication from the county clerk, while his GOP opponent, he said, appeared to have been notified of the mistake in advance. According to Haadsma, Thursday night the county clerk and her deputy clerks were trying to reconcile differences, and several Republicans were present, including the GOP caucus attorney, along with Frisbie, who Haadsma said “was over the top.” Haadsma said his legislative director noticed the canvas Thursday night after being told Republicans were there to observe. The action seemed like “an afterthought,” Haadsma said.

    Haadsma has concerns about the process so far. “It raises all sorts of suspicions. It doesn’t pass a basic smell test,” he said. He noted that his employee had conducted an analysis of election data predicting that he would win the race.

    Frisbie supported the county clerk’s handling of the situation, calling the clerk “one of the most honest people in the world” and said he was told both campaigns received the error notice back-to-back.

    “I just want to really emphasize that there’s nothing going on that people should worry about that there’s undue influence outside of a fair election process,” he said. “I know there are people who will doubt it,” he said, adding that Democrats are already questioning the situation.

    The Battle Creek clerk’s office referred questions Friday to Calhoun County Clerk Kimberly Hinkley, who was reviewing election results in her county and was not available for comment, officials said.

    Benander said the scheduling error was made by Battle Creek city election officials and the Elections Office believes it is specific and limited to that city. Figures on the state’s election results website were updated Friday afternoon after the county released the updated vote count.

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    Benander said county and state canvases are designed to catch errors like this, which is what happened in this case.

    Additional votes reported from Battle Creek affected the final count for competitive statewide races on the ballot, along with other races including for 4th Congressional District, 3rd District Court of Appeals judge, county and city offices, school boards and a local vote proposal. But the updates did not affect the outcome of those races, the latest unofficial results show.

    As of Thursday, Republicans were celebrating unofficial results that showed them with a 58-52 GOP majority, which included the initial vote count showing Haadsma losing his seat. But if Haadsma wins, it would leave the state House with a 57-53 GOP majority.

    In 1992, shortly after that year’s election, a miscount was found in the initial vote count in a state House race. An error in the unofficial results in Warren incorrectly showed a victory for Republican challenger John Chmura in his bid to unseat Democratic state Rep. Dennis Olshove, D-Warren, according to Free Press coverage at the time.

    Based on the unofficial count, Chmura beat Olshove by 54 votes. But Warren’s clerk said the numbers were transposed when they were entered into computers, according to the Free Press report.

    Olshove ended up winning the race by six votes, election results archived on the Macomb County Clerk’s website. The discovery of the snafu results punctured Republicans’ enthusiasm after they celebrated what they believed would be a GOP majority in the state House. Instead, the House was split 55-55 along party lines, and Democrats and Republicans negotiated a historic deal to share power in the chamber.

    This article has been updated to add new information.

    Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected].

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