One Michigan district is investigating the unofficial election results released by the district clerk after Republicans expressed concerns about irregularities, showing a dramatic shift in favor of Democratic candidates compared to previous elections.
The results released by Antrim County in northwestern Michigan’s lower peninsula showed that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden received more than 7,700 votes, or about 3,000 more than incumbent President Donald Trump, Interlochen Public Radio reported. In 2016 Trump was slightly in the county with 8,469 votes (62.4 percent) compared to Clinton’s 4,448 votes (33.2 percent).
Triston Cole, a Republican who represents the Antrim County in Michigan State House, asked Interlochen Public Radio questions about the results. “It’s impossible that we’ve gone from 62 percent trumps in 2016 this time around,” Cole said.
Cole referred to the results for Congressman Jack Bergman (Republican) at his polling station in Chestonia Township – which showed that the GOP incumbent won only 2 votes there. “I can guarantee that there were 6 [Bergman votes] in my immediate family alone,” Cole said.
Bergman was declared the winner in his district, whether or not the results were proven to be inaccurate. He effortlessly defeated Democratic challenger Dana Ferguson by a margin of 61.4 percent to 37.1 percent. But Antrim County said in a press release that it is investigating the results it published.
“Early in the morning, Antrim County District Clerk Sheryl Guy became aware of apparently distorted results in the tables of unofficial election results. Since then, the clerk’s office has been reviewing the results and multiple dismissals to identify any discrepancies,” the district said.
Guy said in the press release that the district expects to receive a “clear answer” by Wednesday afternoon.
Washington Newsday asked the district clerk for further comments, but she did not respond immediately.
At the current state of the race in Michigan, even if the votes in Antrim County are skewed, it does not appear that this would change the course of the presidential campaign. It is still possible, however, that the race could intensify, as some 100,000 ballots remain uncounted in this important swaying state in the Midwest.
With about 96 percent of the votes counted in Michigan, Biden Trump leads with more than 45,000 votes – a lead of 0.9 percent. It is possible that the race will become tighter as the count progresses, making potential discrepancies in Antrim County more significant for the presidential contest. However, analysts believe that the remaining ballots will strongly favor the Democrats, as most of them come from urban areas where the Democrats have a distorted representation.
