DETROIT (WXYZ) — Just five days to the election and a new ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court allows previous guidelines and protocols for poll challengers to remain in place.
It comes as Detroit gears up to count a massive number of ballots under intense scrutiny.
it is certainly a difficult task for volunteers.
Four thousand poll workers are tasked with processing the over 60,000 absentee ballots for Detroit voters alone.
Add to that the remnants of issues at Huntington Place in the 2020 election, and poll workers battling viruses right now, and the task ahead isn’t an easy one.
"We are aware of the potential as we saw in 2020 for bad actors to try and disrupt the validation and the fair and secure tabulation of votes here in the city of Detroit and in other parts around the state as well so we're tracking that and we're working directly with law enforcement at local state and federal levels. The law is clear on how procedures should go and we are going to make sure the law is followed," Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says while talking about Detroit’s votes.
I also talked with people here in Detroit about their thoughts on vote counting and the people doing the counting here in Detroit.
I asked Sheila Leverette-Kirkling, “When you hear that there's going to be greater protection and that there's going to be the ability to respond quickly when issues happen with maybe poll watchers who are trying to disrupt this process, do you believe them?”
"No, I'll believe it when I see it. There's too much that has just been left undone," was her answer.
"I trust our officials and institutions to do a good job. At the end of the day, they did a good job in 2020. I believe in those results, I think they're legitimate, and I have faith in our institutions that they'll do a good job again," said Ferndale voter Matthew Wilson.
We will be at precincts across metro Detroit, including at Huntington Place, watching the process and reporting any abnormalities that we see.
