State Rep. Jim Haadsma (D-Battle Creek) | Laina Stebbins
An error in Calhoun County’s election reporting system provided initial incorrect results, with the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office saying the discrepancy is being handled.
“The Battle Creek AV counting board had 2 high speed tabulators but their reporting system overrode the first report instead of adding to it,” said spokesperson Angela Benander in an email to Michigan Advance.
However, Benander says the error is being corrected, and it doesn’t appear that it will overturn any results, including that for the 44th Michigan House seat, in which incumbent state Rep. Jim Haadsma (D-Battle Creek) lost to Republican challenger Steve Frisbie, a longtime paramedic who has served as a Calhoun County commissioner for the past 13 years.
Current unofficial results have Frisbie with 19,233 votes to 17,852 for Haadsma, a difference of 1,381 votes.
It’s not at this point how many votes might have been impacted by the reporting error, but Benander described it as being in “just the margins.”
Haadsma’s seat was one of four that were flipped by Republicans, giving them a 58-52 majority in the next session that begins in January.
In all, the Secretary of State’s Office says Calhoun County had 7,416 absentee ballots.
A request for comment was sent to Calhoun County Clerk and Register of Deeds Kimberly Hinkley, but has yet to be returned.
Benander reiterated that errors like this do occur and that’s why the canvassing process after an election is so important.
“The canvas enables us to identify issues like this and ensure the official totals are fully accurate,” she said.
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