Michigan canvassers drop meeting after counties certify vote

A state Board of Canvassers’ meeting has been cancelled after canvassers in southeastern Michigan’s Wayne County unanimously certified election results showing Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump

Election 2020 Michigan (Copyright 2020 Associated Press)

A state Board of Canvassers' meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been cancelled after canvassers in southeastern Michigan’s Wayne County unanimously certified election results showing Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump

The meeting had been scheduled in case the state board needed to canvass any county results if a county failed to certify, according to Tracy Wimmer, spokeswoman for Michigan’s secretary of state.

“All counties have certified, so the meeting was unnecessary,” Wimmer wrote in an email.

The board is next scheduled to meet Nov. 23 to certify the Nov. 3 general election.

On Tuesday, two Republican members of the Wayne County canvassing board initially voted against certifying that county’s results, resulting in a 2-2 deadlock with Democrats on the board. Republican member Monica Palmer said poll books in certain precincts in Detroit — a majority-Black city — were out of balance.

The deadlock brought on cries and complaints of racism from Democrats.

Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat on the panel, said the discrepancies were the result of “human error” and called it “reckless and irresponsible” to not certify the results.

The canvassers later held a revote and certified the results 4-0.

Republicans are also trying to stop formal certification of the election results in other swing states, including Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

In Michigan Trump allies and Republican poll challengers have spent days launching unsuccessful litigation. They claimed fraud during absentee ballot counting at a Detroit convention center, but two judges found no evidence and refused to stop the canvassing process.

Biden crushed Trump in Wayne County, a Democratic stronghold, by more than a 2-1 margin and won Michigan by 146,000 votes, according to unofficial results. His victory reversed Trump’s surprise 2016 gains in the industrial Midwest and put Biden on the path to clearing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.