News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan

Recounts about to begin at taxpayer expense

Kelly Sikkema

Partial recounts of ballots cast in the November election begins tomorrow, but with no realistic possibility of changing the results.

The recounts will retally the votes cast in selected precincts. Because the margins were not close, the groups seeking the recounts will have to pay a fee of $125 per precinct.

But Jake Rollow with the Michigan Secretary of State said those fees are a pittance compared to the actual costs of hourly wages, overtime and other expenses.

“Really, the counties and the state pay for it, or to put it more bluntly, taxpayers pay for it," he said.

Also, Rollow said it’s mathematically impossible for the recounts to reverse the outcome of the two proposals that voters approved to add abortion rights and voting rights amendments to the state constitution.

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