Will the city of Warren delay key Michigan election results? Clerk's move prompts worries

WARREN, Mich. — Warren City Clerk Sonja Buffa said she isn't planning to start counting absentee ballots for Michigan's third-largest city until Election Day, a decision the Macomb County clerk and other city officials worry could potentially delay the results for the entire state and could determine who wins some close races.

Under a new state law, cities or townships with a population of at least 5,000 can start processing and tabulating absentee ballots eight days before Election Day on Nov. 5. To do this, municipalities had to provide notice to the state 28 days before Election Day, or Oct. 8, at the latest, Michigan Department of State spokesperson Sam May said.

But Buffa's office won't tabulate absentee ballots until Nov. 5. The Warren City Council is planning to talk about this decision during its Tuesday evening meeting, said City Council Secretary Mindy Moore.

Buffa said tabulating eight days ahead of time isn't required by law.

"You can follow the process, and you can see what everybody is doing across the state and how many times the laws have changed and everything that we've had to do as far as all these mandates by the state of Michigan ― we do everything that we're told to do legislatively, funded and unfunded," said Buffa, who was appointed by the council to be the city's clerk in January 2019 and was reelected last year.

In its last biggest election in November 2020, Warren voters cast more than 38,100 absentee ballots, which was 55% of the city's total of 68,858 votes cast. Democrat Joe Biden won Warren 55.5%-42.5% over Republican President Donald Trump, according to the Macomb County clerk's office, with Biden getting almost two-thirds of his votes through absentee ballot while Trump got 42.5% through absentee.

This time around, Trump is in a tight race with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Warren is also part of the 10th Congressional District, where first-term Republican U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township is locked in a close contest with Democratic challenger Carl Marlinga in a race that in 2022 James won by a half percentage point or 1,600 votes.

But Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said he would like municipal clerks to "at least get a day's head start" on tabulating ballots. If issues occur on Election Day and cause problems with the tabulation, it would delay Warren's results, he said.

"I don't want to see all the clerks in Macomb County looked upon like we're not getting our job done timely because our largest community isn't getting it done in a timely fashion," said Forlini, a Republican. "I'm not saying they won't. I'm hoping they do. I'm hoping they get it in by 10 o'clock at night ― that'd be great."

Clerks can increase the odds of finishing their tabulations in a timely fashion if they tabulate results ahead of time during the eight-day window, even if it's just a day ahead of Election Day, he said.

Warren's decision has ramifications for the state and country, said Warren City Council President Angela Rogensues, a Democrat.

"I think that the state and then the larger country will be waiting on Warren in Macomb County for the results, which will be delayed compared to the rest of the communities around us," Rogensues said, "and so folks won't be able to know who wins on Election Night because of Warren and then, therefore, Macomb County."

Expert: Option remains on table

But Buffa said she has been administering elections for 24 years and has been the city clerk since January 2019.

"I can tell you, we'll be OK," she said. "We'll be fine. We can process the ballots on Election Day."

If Buffa isn't going to pre-process absentee ballots, she has calculated what is "an acceptable time to be done with the processing," said Chris Thomas, the former longtime state director of elections and a consultant working with the city of Detroit's clerk.

Warren likely won't have as many absentee ballots to process as it did in 2020 during the early days of the COVID pandemic, Thomas said.

Council member Moore said she wants to ask the clerk if there is anything the council can do to help or if there's something the clerk needs. During the city's budget process this spring, Buffa asked for a new vehicle for her office, but she didn't ask for anything related to the tabulation of votes, Moore said.

It was unclear early Tuesday morning if Buffa would attend the council meeting.

"This is a big election," Moore said. "We're going to have the whole world watching. And oftentimes, the vote has come down to Macomb County in the past, and we're the biggest city in Macomb County, and people shouldn't have to wait till 2 o'clock in the morning to get their results."

Buffa said the deadline to notify the state about counting ballots early was Oct. 8, so she said the council's argument is "a moot point."

Other Warren officials worry

Rogensues said the rationale that Buffa has provided the public "is problematic for the community and the state."

"What she's doing to herself and the folks that work for her is forcing them to get it all done in one day, when there's an option to utilize more time to ensure that the ballots are accurate," said Rogensues, a Democrat.

Councilman Jonathan Lafferty said the clerk’s decision to postpone the processing of ballots is “probably one of the most irresponsible acts of her tenure as clerk.” The council has previously offered her assistance, he said.

“We've been very open and transparent with her that we will make a budget amendment, we will offer assistance in any capacity that she needs to effectively do her job, and she's refused every offer of assistance,” Lafferty said.

If the election ends up being one where Warren's ballots "are going to make the difference," Thomas said, there will be "extreme pressure on her to get something done." But if Warren's results "wouldn't make any difference one way or the other," he said, there won't be as much attention on the city.

If Buffa isn't ready or able to tabulate the ballots early, then she shouldn't, County Clerk Forlini said. He also noted that Buffa "can't change her mind anyhow, at this point."

The county clerk said he is asking Warren to turn in its "sticks" ― or flash drives with election results ― to his office before delivering its election paperwork, something Warren hasn't done in recent elections. Forlini recommends that clerks return flash drives with election results as soon as they're done with them, which allow partial results to start being reported.

Buffa said she will post a PDF of the results to Warren's website and email them to Forlini before returning the flash drives and paperwork. Forlini said he can't report the results from PDFs, though, because his staff would need to pull information from the documents.

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