Prosecutor Race Recount Is a No-Go

The ballot recount in the Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney race doesn’t change the outcome.

But it does uncover some surprising things.

There were no issues with the county’s optical-scan voting machines.

However, there were noticeable errors in more than half the county’s precincts.

Those errors were correctable.

But one error that wasn’t correctable has caused all the returns from the city of Marquette to be thrown out.

There was a security breach with how the ballots were stored, and it showed up in at least 3 precincts.

The only way to audit voting results after the fact is by recount.

At least 2 people in Sands Township learned on Election Day that their votes in the race weren’t counted.

Independent candidate Cathy Church asked for the recount to see if there were more.

Because the recount couldn’t be completed, the election day returns of an 1,800-vote victory for incumbent Gary Walker will stand.

Walker declined to speak with us on camera today.