Michigan removes Upper Peninsula clerks from election duties over planned hand count

LANSING, Mich. — Two township clerks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were removed from their election duties this week after they planned to hand count votes in Tuesday's election, state officials said.

Director of Elections Jonathan Brater said in a letter dated Monday that Rock River Clerk Tom Schierkolk and Deputy Clerk David LaMere intended to conduct a hand count prior to the county process of canvassing the results.

Michigan law requires jurisdictions to use voting machines to tabulate ballots, according to the Secretary of State.

Rock River is about 27 miles (43.45 kilometers) from Marquette, Michigan, and home to just over 1,200 people, according to the 2020 Census.

The election duties of the township will be turned over to the Rock River deputy treasurer with the help of nearby a nearby township clerk, Brater wrote, “in order to ensure public trust and confidence in the integrity and security of elections.”

The letter was first reported by the New York Times.

Schierkolk said in an interview that the people of Rock River requested a hand count be conducted to verify the results tabulated by voting machines in order to “restore public trust in elections." He also questioned Brater's authority to remove him from his election duties and believes that conducting a hand count is legal under Michigan law.

Research shows that machine counting is faster and more accurate than hand counting. Brater said in his letter that the proper procedure following the close of polls is to store tabulated ballots in “secure, numerically-sealed containers."

According to the New York Times, Schierkolk insisted in an interview that a hand count would be legal under the state’s constitution.

Failing to comply with the order from his office, which is directed by the Michigan Secretary of State, is a criminal misdemeanor, Brater wrote.

“Your past actions and statements, detailed in prior letters, indicate that you and the deputy clerk are unwilling to fulfill your responsibilities as clerk,” Brater said.

Since former President Donald Trump and his allies have spread lies claiming that widespread fraud cost Trump the 2020 election, some Republicans have sought to replace modern voting machines with the more laborious, error-prone process of hand counting, despite no evidence of widespread fraud or major irregularities.

In 2023, a Republican clerk in Shelby Township, Michigan, was barred by the state from administering elections after he was charged with acting as a fake elector in 2020 for then-President Donald Trump. He pleaded not guilty and is up for reelection as the Shelby Township clerk.