A First-Hand Account of Working a Primary from a First-Time, Michigan Election Inspector
By Kristine Christlieb | March 12, 2024
In the fall of 2020, I was the Church Militant reporter assigned to cover the Presidential election in Georgia, including all the post-election chaos.
I wrote a number of stories about Fulton County – the after-hours ballot counting, the suitcases pulled out from under the tables, the mysterious water leak.
Naturally, I was aware of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the mother-daughter poll workers accused, and later found innocent, of election fraud.
When I arrived at Precinct 2’s polling place in Ecorse, Michigan, and was introduced to another mother-daughter team, Carol and Mikaia Riggs, I couldn’t help feeling déjà vu all over again.
Carol was chairing the precinct team and her daughter was running the computer equipment.
There were seven of us assigned to Precinct 2. I wasn’t surprised to learn I was the only Republican.
Voting in Rust Belt America
Ecorse, Michigan, just south of Detroit and running along Interstate 75, is considered one of the so-called downriver communities. It sits in the shadow of Marathon Petroleum’s refineries and a former U.S. Steel plant. There is not much pretty about the town.
The 1970s decline in the auto and steel industries led to the city being the first in U.S. history to go bankrupt.
The city faced another budget crisis in 2009. Governor Jennifer Granholm declared a financial emergency as city officials had to deal with a $9 million deficit and a federal corruption probe. Eventually, the mayor and city controller were arrested and convicted on bribery charges.
In 1950 at the height of its population, nearly 18,000 people lived in Ecorse. By 2020, the population had fallen to a little more than 9,000 people.
This is a city that has experienced a lot of pain in the last 50 years.
A Long Day
Poll workers were told to arrive between 6:00 and 6:15 a.m. and expect to stay until after the polls close at 8:00 p.m. Fourteen hours is a long day under any circumstances, but in this presidential primary, it was particularly grueling.
Only 93 people showed up to vote. Nearly all were votes for Biden.
Except for me and one other worker, a friend of Carol’s, all the workers knew one another and had worked together before. They welcomed me warmly, and took the positions they had worked before. I really didn’t have a job. At first, I was assigned to give out “I voted” stickers. Then that job went to one of the former workers when he arrived after me.
I sat at a table alone and pretended to check identification, but my position was really unnecessary. I spent most of the day working on a personal project on my computer. When a voter wandered in, I checked the ID, a second time, trying to make myself useful.
I saw absolutely no irregularities in the identification portion of the ballot process. Every voter arrived with some form of official identification.
During training, we were encouraged to become familiar with all the work stations. For a time, I was given the opportunity to check in the voters, reviewing their request for a Republican or Democrat ballot.
When I asked to spend time practicing on the computer, Mikaia told me that wasn’t allowed, I needed to have additional training to work on the computer. I later learned from the Clerk’s office that Mikaia was mistaken about that.
Closing the Polls
The closing process involves a number of steps requiring official seals and signatures.
There were some missteps that required reopening and resealing at least one of the official envelopes. But there were multiple eyes on that process. There was no reason to think anything but a bit of confusion was at play.
As the sole Republican, my signature was required several times.
We were all tired, eager to go to the clerk’s office to get our checks and go home. But then there was another glitch. We were unable to balance the tabulator ballots cast to voter count. The number of voters failed to match the number of counted ballots.
In the entire 14-hour shift, the only person entering data in the computer was the chair’s daughter, Mikaia. At the end of the night, when she couldn’t get the software program to balance, she was the one on the hot seat.
The final balance required calculating the number of unused ballots. I wondered if that might not be the problem. Since I wasn’t given access to the computer, I’m not sure where she went wrong.
All we knew was that we were not going to be able to get our checks and leave until our numbers balanced. With only 93 voters, it seemed as if that should be easy.
We were instructed to bring everything into the clerk’s office where the election administrator could identify the problem.
Carol and Mikaia went into the clerk’s office while the rest of us waited in the lobby. Official documents were brought out to me, without explanation, to initial, which I did.
I didn’t think there was any attempt on anyone’s part to steal a vote or cheat. I think there was simply confusion as to what numbers needed to be entered.
Nevertheless, a few days later, I called the clerk’s office and asked what happened. I was assured that the problem was easily handled. I asked specifically about the unused ballots and was told that had been the problem. I also asked about not being allowed to use the computer; that’s when I learned I had been misinformed. No additional training was required.
I strongly recommend being involved in some fashion at the polls on election day. A lot of thought has been given to protecting our votes. That was reassuring to observe first-hand. But I was also glad that I was there because if I hadn’t been, both sides would not have been represented.
***************
Kristine Christlieb volunteers for Michigan Fair Elections and serves on MFE's communications team. She publishes Trust but Verify on Substack.
Learn how We The People can win back and secure OUR Future.
Join us Thursday, March 14th at 12 PM for
MFE's Coalition Task Force Meeting
Registration is required to attend the meeting.
You MUST use the link below for the March 14th meeting.
After registering, you will receive an email with details on how to join the meeting.
Note: No representatives of the media are allowed in our meetings without permission.
Important Notes and Disclaimers for Election Integrity Network National Working Groups and coalition calls
We operate under strict 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan guidelines. Please do not make any comments during the call or in the chat that are directly related to any campaign or candidate running for office or could be considered an endorsement or opposition of that candidate.
All calls are “off the record.” This means that no members of the media are allowed on our calls without permission and this rule also applies to participants. No comment or presentation can be shared outside of the call without the express permission of the speaker. This includes the call "Notes" available to our participants.
We always welcome new participants but ask that all newcomers register with their own registration link. Please do not forward your personal link to another participant.
For the security of the call, if you join by phone, you may be asked to unmute and provide your name.
This meeting is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice or instruction to lobby on behalf of any issue or organization.
Please donate to Michigan Fair Elections
MFE is a fiercely independent, tax-exempt 501(c)3 charity. We rely on voluntary contributions to fund our important, and sometimes costly, work. Legal claims are sometimes essential to improve the government and protect citizen rights, and they can be expensive. MFE accepts no government funding.
Please support MFE's investigative research, honest journalism, and litigative actions to defend We the People's inalienable rights as protected in the U.S. Constitution. Donate today to assist our educational efforts to protect the principles of individual liberty in America.
Mark your calendars to attend Election Integrity Network's outstanding national working groups. Consider also serving as liaison to report to MFE's Task Force Coalition on our Thursday meetings.
Citizen Research Project | Ned Jones, EIN
Every Tuesday at 6 p.m. (ET)
Election Technology | Jim Womack, NCEIT
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Introduction to Election Integrity Infrastructure | Kerri Toloczko and Ned Jones, EIN
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Vote By Mail / USPS | Ned Jones, EIN
Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Legislative Development | Kathleen Harms, TN
Every Wednesday at 2 p.m. (ET)
Voter Roll Maintenance | Willard Helander, EIN
Every Wednesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Vulnerable Voters | Kerri Toloczko, EIN
Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Every 1st Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Election Audits | Mike Raisch
Every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Building Local Task Forces | Joshua Taylor
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Media Training | Kerri Toloczko
Every 1st Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Michigan Fair Elections. Every article written by an MFE author is generated by the author or editor alone. Links embedded within the article, however, may have been generated by artificial intelligence.