Recounts of ballot measures from Michigan’s November election on questions of voting rights and abortion have been met with friction in some precincts across the state in recent days.
Ballot recounts were requested in over 500 precincts in 43 counties across Michigan, mostly for Proposal 3.
But in counties like Ingham, Jackson and Marquette, the recount has been disrupted by recount challengers.
Jake Rollow is a spokesperson for Michigan’s Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson. He said the challengers have the right to be there, but in some cases, they have tried to handle the ballots.
"They're not allowed to touch ballots. Additionally, one of the things that they continue to do is to demand to see the other side of the ballot," said Rollow. "And that's outside of the scope of the recount."
According to Rollow, some challengers have also been trying to flip the ballots on the other side to see who people voted for in the November election.
"When they're told that they can't see the other side of the ballot, they issue a challenge. When their challenge is denied, rather than following the process and they could then appeal that challenge directly to the Board of State canvassers. Instead, they will repeatedly issue the challenge," said Rollow.
Rollow said many of the challengers are a part of a group that calls themselves “election integrity force.” Due to the margin of victory of the ballot measures, Rollow said there were not enough recount requests for the recounts to overturn the results.