Local residents protest at the City Council meeting.

DEARBORN HEIGHTS – Dozens of local Arab American residents attended the city council meeting on Tuesday, July 29 to express their concerns after being denied the right to acquire absentee ballots. They also demanded City Clerk Walter Prusiewicz step down from his post at once.

Tension permeated the atmosphere at city hall after Prusiewicz pulled a no-show and ADC-MI Director Fatina Abdrabboh unraveled more details about the city’s handling of this year’s elections. 

Shocking allegations against Councilwoman Mary Horvath also surfaced after she admitted that she was involved in the process of mailing absentee ballots to residents while she publicly endorsed a candidate in the upcoming primary.

The controversy erupted last week after Prusiewicz submitted a resignation letter on the heels of allegations that he was denying local voters the right to obtain absentee ballots. Prusiewicz gave an end date of August 25 for his last day in office, adding that he would still monitor the upcoming primary election. 

ADC-MI held a press conference last week, claiming that more than 10 residents came forward with complaints about the city clerk and his staff. 

Despite listing a number of reasons for his departure, Prusiewicz later rescinded his resignation, claiming that he would stay until the end of his term. 

Residents packed city hall with multiple picket signs, including ones that read “Where is my vote?”, “My vote counts”, and “It’s my vote…I will be heard.” 

During the meeting, Mayor Dan Paletko took the podium to re-assure the crowd of his disapproval of Prusiewicz’s handling of the absentee ballots. He stressed that his office will do whatever it takes to make sure residents’ votes are properly cast, adding that he has been in contact with county and state officials about overseeing the city’s elections.

“I can’t think of anything more important than the right to vote,” Paletko said. “It’s the philosophy of the Secretary of State that you don’t hurt a voter because an election worker might have done something wrong.” 

After Prusiewicz’s resignation letter became public late last week, many residents were appalled by several factors highlighted in the letter. They question whether he should resume his post in light of all of the allegations and his own revelations.

In a letter this week to the state attorney general and the Wayne County prosecutor, Prusiewicz said that a few hundred absentee ballot applications were dropped off at the city clerk’s office when he was not present to accept them. The staff at the office failed to get the deliverer’s name or have the individual sign off on the batch of ballots, a law mandated by the state. 

In his resignation letter, Prusiewicz said he contacted the state for guidance and he was told to process the ballots, but to not accept any further batches if they were not signed.  He was also told to ask for identification of each patron that drops off batches of absentee ballots, which should have been mandated from the start.

But what seemed to also alarm residents about the resignation letter was the stark revelation of the turmoil occurring behind the scenes among the city clerk’s office, city officials and city employees.

“I will never be accepted as the clerk and this job will never get any better,” Prusiewicz said in his resignation letter. 

He went on to state that the city clerk’s office had long been short staffed; and after he’d finally gotten approval to hire a deputy, the individual resigned because of the hostile environment at city hall. Prusiewicz also admitted in the resignation letter that there is constant friction between him and other city employees. He said he interviewed a second candidate for the deputy position and warned her that he’s not on speaking terms with the majority of the staff at city hall, who often bad-mouth him.

Prusiewicz stated that the second qualified deputy candidate also rejected the position after witnessing hostility among staffers. He also discussed a conflict between himself and Councilwoman Lisa Hicks-Clayton.

In his letter, Prusiewicz also stated that the FBI came to his home to interrogate him about “criminal matters that they were investigating in the city.” However, he didn’t divulge the details of that interrogation.

Residents appeared disgruntled at the idea of allowing Prusiewicz to resume his post, given these revelations.  

Signs are plastered all over the city clerk’s office.

“No wonder why my family never received absentee ballots when we requested them,” resident Renee Hadi told The Arab American News. “How can you expect productivity when city officials are behaving like a bunch of fifth graders. It’s concerning to me that the city clerk wants to keep his position after he admitted that he was unable to perform his duties under such stifling conditions.” 

Councilwoman Horvath, who has long been a friend of Prusiewicz, defended his actions at the meeting on Tuesday. She told the crowd that she visited the city clerk’s office and assisted with the absentee ballot application requests to make sure each signature matched with the individual’s signature on his or her voter ID card.  

She said “about 20 percent of the signatures did not match,” thus warranting them the right to not send those residents a ballot. She added that those residents were sent a letter to inform them that their request had been denied.  

Residents took the podium to question why Horvath was even granted access to the city clerk’s office to begin with, pointing out that she publicly endorsed state representative candidate Julie Plawecki, making her presence at the office a conflict of interest. 

“We need to know why Horvath is involved in the election process when she publicly endorsed a candidate,” shouted one resident.

Horvath told residents that the state was aware of her involvement at the city clerk’s office, but she failed to tell them that she endorsed a candidate in the race because “they never asked.” 

Another resident, who is also a Homeland Security official, took the podium to launch more accusations against the city clerk. The resident alleged that he visited the city clerk’s office twice to speak to Prusiewicz over why his relatives didn’t receive absentee ballots. When he asked Prusiewicz if he was the city clerk, Prusiewicz allegedly denied it. During his second visit, the resident said that Prusiewicz finally buckled and admitted that he was the city clerk and apologized for lying to him. The resident described Prusiewicz’s behavior as “bizarre.” 

ADC-MI Director Fatina Abdrabboh addresses city officials.

Abdrabboh took the podium to reveal more details about the city clerk’s handling of the election process, including allegations that Prusiewicz partook in illegal activity by traveling with a batch of absentee ballot application outside of the city clerk’s office and after business hours. 

Abdrabboh added that ADC-MI’s investigation further revealed that the city clerk’s office was intentionally delaying the voting process of residents with Middle Eastern-sounding names. She cited an example of two neighbors who had requested absentee ballots on the same day. The resident with an Anglo-Saxon name received her absentee ballot first, while the resident with the Arabic name did not receive her ballot until after ADC-MI had launched its accusations against the city last week. 

Abdrabboh expressed her dismay against the possibility of Prusiewicz resuming his post even after all of the allegations that had surfaced.  Last week, the council voted 6-1 to accept Prusiewicz’s resignation, before he decided to rescind it. 

“The reality is there are several hundred applications that we are now being told are being processed incidentally only after ADC-MI got involved and only after residents expressed their outrage,”  Abdrabboh told city officials. “On behalf of voters being suppressed, and for the credibly of the democratic process in the city of Dearborn Heights, the city clerk should resign effective immediately. If he chooses not to, then proceedings to remove him should begin immediately.” 

At the end of the meeting, Abdrabboh asked the city council to make an official statement on their stance regarding Prusiewicz’s resignation. Councilman Tom Berry told residents that he believes city officials should not accept the city clerk’s decision to rescind his resignation.

“This absentee voter issue that we are faced with today is the most recent of many issues that we’ve had with the clerk’s office,” Berry said. “I have to say I am embarrassed by all the attention that has been drawn to that office, which in my opinion has been self-inflicted… I think it’s in our best interest that we do not consider or accept his rescindence (sic) letter.”  

Councilwoman Hicks-Clayton called Prusiewicz actions “self-executing”, while Councilman Bob Constantine said the city will do its best to guarantee that a fair election is conducted next week. The council stated they needed more time to look into the legalities of Prusiewicz’s resignation and subsequent decision to change his mind, before they make an official determination. Some city officials questioned the issue of removing Prusiewicz from his post immediately, because the resignation letter stated that he would stay until late August. 

NAACP representatives were also present at the meeting and expressed their concerns over the handling of the city’s election process.  In addition, the offices of Attorney General Bill Schuette and the Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy say they are aware of the situation and will be looking into taking additional steps. 

In a joint statement, State Representative David Knezek, a candidate for state senate, and state representative candidates Rashid Baydoun and Tony Trupiano said the incidents in the city have “raised awareness of a community that continues to be prejudiced against. 

 “Not only does the Arab-American community deserve answers and access to the democratic right to vote, anyone who believes in democracy should stand shoulder to shoulder with your fellow Americans and demand that this situation be rectified immediately,” the statement reads.  

At press time, the city of Dearborn Heights has not decided how it will proceed with the election process and if Prusiewicz will still hold his position on Tuesday, August 5, the date of the primary.