Board Of Canvassers Will Not Certify Mayoral Primary Vote

DETROIT (WWJ) - A winner has not been declared in the primary election for mayor of Detroit.

The Board of Canvassers, who are charged with certifying the vote, on Tuesday decided to pass the issue to the state due to the large number of questions raised about the way ballot were counted.

Benny Napolean could actually be the winner — looking like he received about 4,000 more votes than Mike Duggan.

The final tally earlier appeared to be 28391 for Napolean; 23970 for Duggan.

That would mean Napoleon received 47.4 percent of the 59,933 votes cast, while Duggan received 40 percent. It was a reversal of the unofficial tally, which showed Duggan with 46 percent to Napoleon's 30 percent.

Reporting from the Canvassers' meeting, WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton said, due to miscounts and other discrepancies, some 20,000 write-in votes — initially counted for Duggan — were disallowed.

Former Detroit Corporate Counsel Krystal Crittendon finished third with 8.9 percent, followed by former State Rep. Lisa Howze received 7.7 percent of the vote, and Tom Barrow got 6.2 percent.

Langton said Detroiters in the packed room were stunned when the results were read.

People in the audience speculated that there was a rush to count votes on election night.

"Something was horribly, horribly wrong," said political consultant Steve Hood. "They shouldn't have tried to get everything done by the 11 o'clock newscast that night."

Hood says City Clerk Janice Winfrey clearly dropped the ball.

"She's gotta go," Hood said. "This is wrong, because what you've done now is you've hurt Napolean's ability to raise funds — and now you've got Mike Duggan in question.

"It's just thrown the whole thing into chaos," he said.

Langton said he was awaiting word as to if there will be any legal challenges. "Undoubtedly there would be," he said.