County clerk: I won't count May primary ballots by hand

BELLAIRE (AP) - The chief election officer in a northern Michigan county said she won't count paper ballots by hand in the May 4 primary, despite the wishes of commissioners.

Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy said an electronic voting system "must be used in all elections in every precinct throughout the state."

The county puts paper ballots through a tabulator. A separate hand count can be requested by county commissioners after the initial round of counting, Guy said.

"I cannot legally hold the May 2021 election with paper ballots counted by hand," she said Monday.

Antrim County has been in the spotlight since the fall election when results in the Republican county initially showed a local victory for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. But it was attributed to human error, not any problems with voting machines, and corrected.

County commissioners last month voted to count May primary ballots by hand instead of spending money to prepare Dominion voting machines for the election.

The county still is locked in litigation with a resident who accused officials of fraud in the fall election.