Detroit Gets New Election Equipment

Detroit updates 10-year-old ballot tabulators in time for August primary.

Voting Vote Election 8

Detroit is getting new ballot-counting machines in time for the August primary: 700 new tabulators from the state.

The tabulators will take optical scans of ballots and pictures of ballots for audits.

City Clerk Janice Winfrey says the new machines are not being put into service to address recount issues the city experienced in last November’s election. She says those problems had nothing to do with the voting machines themselves.

“It had everything to do with processing the ballots and recording information in the poll books and on the canisters or the equipment that holds the ballots and lock the ballots up,” Winfrey says.

Winfrey says the machines will replace 10-year-old devices that frequently broke down.

 

Author

  • Bre'Anna Tinsley
    Bre'Anna Tinsley is a reporter for Detroit Public Radio, 101.9 WDET. She covers city government and housing, as well as co-hosting the "Detroit Evening Report" podcast.