DETROIT — On Tuesday morning, it appeared that Benny Napoleon may have actually been the top vote-getting candidate in the Detroit Mayoral Primary Race when the Wayne County Clerk’s Office, headed by Clerk Cathy Garrett, announced that it was throwing out more than 20,000 votes.

But later that evening, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, consisting of four members, unanimously made a decision to reject the new results given by the clerk’s office. The board, which is composed of two Democrats and two Republicans, has 10 days to vote on whether to certify Detroit’s election. If no decision is made by then, the issue will then have to be taken to court.

Based on the unofficial results, Duggan had taken 46 percent of the vote as a write-in candidate, while Napoleon came in a distant second with 30 percent. The new version of the results would give Duggan 18,000 less votes, giving Napoleon 41 percent of the vote and Duggan 34 percent of the vote. 

Napoleon (L), Duggan (R)

Either way, both men will face-off in the General Election on November 5, to determine who will be mayor of a city that is in the midst of a bankruptcy and is receiving State guidance from Emergency Manager Kevin Orr.

It isn’t entirely clear what the issue was with the 20,000 and some votes thrown out by the clerk’s office but, according to the Detroit Free Press, it may have been the result of errors made by some of Detroit’s election poll workers.

At issue is how Detroit election inspectors counted write-in ballots during the Aug. 6 Primary. Proper instructions had been given on how the 482 precinct and 125 absentee poll books should have been marked with hash-tag tallying of votes. Instead, some poll books used numbers to record votes.

Some are already pointing fingers at possible biased decision making, as Clerk Garrett is the sister of AFSCME Council 25 President Al Garrett, who is a friend of Napoleon’s. Duggan’s campaign believes that to be the case, claiming some may be deliberately tampering with Detroit’s democracy.

“Our opponents tried another dirty trick, and it didn’t work,” Duggan campaign manager Bryan Barnhill said in a statement. “To its credit, the Board of Canvassers unanimously refused to disenfranchise more than 20,000 Detroiters, who properly cast their write-in votes for Mike Duggan. We’re confident that the State Elections Division will certify the results of the election properly and make certain that all votes are counted.”

Napoleon on the other hand, called for some oversight in the November elections.

“This is no small margin of error,” he said. “This is very troubling, and I believe it is cause for Detroit’s General Election to be overseen by the highest authority – either the Federal Elections Commission, or the Department of Justice.”

Napoleon took offense to the ‘dirty tricks’ comment made by Duggan’s camp.

“For 38 years, I have served this City with honesty, integrity and transparency. Now that Mike Duggan has moved to town from Livonia, he gets to call me dirty?”