Tabulator replaced
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BARK RIVER -- Residents of Bark River Township who went to vote shortly before noon on Election Day encountered a hiccup -- the ballot tabulator was broken.
Voters were asked to complete their ballots and leave them at the polling station, where they were placed in a lockbox to be counted later in the day.
“When we have time, we’ll open that up; we’ll get a Democrat and Republican, and we’ll we’ll feed them through like we would AV (absentee) ballots,” said Bark River Township Supervisor Mark Ray when the Press visited around 1:20 p.m.
At that point, a new machine was up and running. The Delta County Clerk had dropped off a replacement tabulator, Ray explained.
It was theorized that the humidity might have caused the error, and a dehumidifier was on its way, one election worker on site said.
The Detroit Free Press reported that ballot tabulators malfunctioned at several locations around Michigan on Election Day, including “in Redford Township, Shelby Township and Madison Heights, as well as other locations.”
Though the machine in Bark River wasn't out for long, the timing was unfortunate because the polling place was rather busy at the time, said Ray.