https://apnews.com/article/elections-state-elections-michigan-local-elections-hillsdale-24262bfcfa9584cd9fe308bcec8aa627
HILLSDALE, Mich. (AP) — State officials have barred a township clerk in southern Michigan from running her community’s local election next week.
Stephanie Scott, the clerk in Hillsdale County’s Adams Township, failed to take steps to ensure the security of the vote, the Michigan Bureau of Elections said.
The county instead will supervise the election in the township.
The state said Scott did not allow a contractor to perform preventative maintenance on voting equipment and did not conduct accuracy tests,among other issues.
“Your past statements, detailed in prior letters, indicate that you are unwilling to fulfill your responsibilities as clerk, and you have failed to confirm that you will fulfill them in response to recent correspondence,” state elections director Jonathan Brater said in a letter Monday.
Scott, a Republican, denied being negligent but said she had concerns about the equipment. She told The Detroit News that she had considered paper ballots and a hand count but settled on tabulators.
“Quite frankly, I was coming to a moral quandary of even running this election,” Scott said.
At least two other clerks in Michigan communities have been sidelined in the Nov. 2 election. Sherikia Hawkins is accused of forging records after Oakland County officials raised questions about how the city accounted for absentee ballots in 2018. She is awaiting trial.
In Livingston County’s Genoa Township, Polly Skolarus is facing a misdemeanor charge. The state said absentee ballots in the 2020 fall election were placed in a canvas bag instead of a designated box.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/10/25/elections-bureau-bans-clerk-running-nov-2-election-over-tabulator-concerns/8545091002/
The Michigan Bureau of Elections has prohibited a local clerk in Hillsdale County from administering next week's election after the bureau said the clerk failed to comply with state requirements regarding voting equipment in Adams Township.
Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott denied the allegations and is exploring her options with outside counsel after the bureau's notice said a violation of the prohibition could result in a misdemeanor.
"As a supervisor, I don’t know that she does have the authority given that it's an elected position," Scott, the first-term clerk, said about Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Benson in a Monday statement said Adams Township voters deserve an election administered in accordance with state and federal laws.
Scott, who was elected late last year as a Republican but now considers herself more of an independent, said Monday she has tussled with the Elections Bureau over the past several months over concerns she has about the township's tabulators.
Scott said she is worried about the security of the tabulators — including in relation to their performance in the November 2020 presidential election — and believes they were connected to or had the ability to be connected to the internet in past elections.
Michigan election protocol prohibits connections to the internet, and Hillsdale County has denied any connectivity between the machine and the internet. Brater also notified Scott in an Oct. 15 letter that, while the tabulator has a modem physically attached, "the modem is disabled while polls are open."