I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
ES&S M100 counter
Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson has appealed to the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) for help after vote counting machines in four Oakland County communities failed a pre-election logic and accuracy test.
In an Oct. 24 letter to the EAC — published by the agency just moments before close of business on election eve — Johnson wrote that she questioned the integrity of the ES&S M100 machines that are used to count the votes in many Michigan counties, including Wayne, Oakland and Macomb.
“The same ballots, run through the same machines, yielded different results each time,” she wrote, adding that similar problems had been reported in other Michigan communities.
Johnson said that the machine’s manufacturers ES&S attributed the problem to dust build-up on machine sensors.
“This begs the question,” Johnson wrote. “On Election Day, will the record number of ballots going through the remaining tabulators leave even more build-up on the sensors, affecting machines that tested just fine initially? Could this additional build-up on voting tabulators that have not have any preventative maintenance skew vote totals?”
Johnson said that the county is prevented from performing maintenance on the machines because to do so would void the warranty.
Johnson requested a federal directive or law that would allow county clerks to conduct random audits to test machine accuracy using voting tabulators that have had preventative maintenance within the last year, and raised the possibility that extra time may be needed to verify and count votes.
“I believe this matter, which is not a partisan issue but a matter of integrity, needs your immediate attention, and I would urge you to investigate as so much is at stake.”
It is not clear if Johnson, a Republican, received any response to this letter.
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