Frequently asked questions about voting, election in Michigan
(CBS DETROIT) — With the 2024 general election less than a month away, some voters still have questions and concerns. CBS News Detroit talked with a city clerk to answer some of those questions.
City Clerk Chris Swope is in charge of administering elections in Lansing.
"The vote counting machines: How do they work and how do we know they're safe for counting votes?"
Swope says the machines that count votes are put through multiple tests and double-checked before election day.
"We test every single machine, and then we do a public test where we demonstrate that," he said.
In the event of a recount, Swope says, "Just about every office I've seen recounts in most of the votes that are flipped in a recount are human counting error in a recount."
"What about jumps in the count totals as the results roll in?"
"Well that has to do, especially in bigger communities, with how we process the absentee ballots," Swope said. "We process those centrally, and so for the city of Lansing, we only have two machines where everything is accumulated on, so it's a big chunk once that gets uploaded."
"I do have a concern that the wrong people are being encouraged to monitor ... people with a strong presumption that there's something wrong."
Swope says that members of all political parties work as poll workers and city and county clerks, making the election process bipartisan.
"Challenger organizations can send people to the absent voter counting board, and in every precinct, the closing procedure is open to the public," said Swope.
