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    • Detroit officials outline ‘rigorous’ security plan for Election Day and vote counting
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    Detroit officials outline ‘rigorous’ security plan for Election Day and vote counting

    Pabio Posted on

    Determined to avoid the “shenanigans” that rocked Detroit as absentee votes were counted in the tumultuous 2020 presidential election, city officials on Thursday outlined the “rigorous” security plan they developed this year to keep workers safe and ensure every vote is counted. .

    Speaking to reporters in Huntington Place’s spacious Hall A, where Detroit’s absentee ballots will be counted, City Clerk Janice Winfrey and her elections director Daniel Baxter said they had consulted with Detroit police and the Department of Justice on developing a plan. Credentials will be required, metal detectors will be in place and the only people allowed in the space are election workers, challengers, media and public observers.

    More: Detroit elections officials say they’re seeing high voter turnout

    “We are confident that we have a safety program in place to ensure that every person here feels safe and can do their job,” Baxter said.

    In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump, who lost Michigan by 150,000 votes, attempted to discredit the results by claiming there was widespread fraud at the TCF Center of the time. But these claims have never been proven.

    “It’s because we’re a black city,” Baxter said. “When you look at some of the attacks that have been made on communities like Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, those type of communities, that’s where black people live. That’s where black people are the administrators of the process, and that This is why we are attacked so often.

    Baxter said no one anticipated the “shenanigans” of the 2020 election. Afterward, he said a group of Department of Elections officials worked hard to overhaul their process and make it more efficient. They wanted to make Detroit the “shining star” of election administration.

    “All we want to do, all we want to do in the city of Detroit and the Department of Elections is make sure that every voter who voted by mail, who mailed it in and entrusted in our hands – we want to make sure that we deal with it and that their voice is heard in this election,” Baxter said. “That’s all. Nothing else.”

    He said working in Concourse A at Huntington Place gives them more space. Police will also be present throughout the convention center, including one on the roof, to ensure workers are not threatened.

    “We wait and hope for the best, but we plan for the worst,” Baxter said.

    Winfrey said protesters came to her house in 2020 and threatened her because they said she had something to do with Trump’s loss. She now has routine security with her.

    She said the fraud allegations have “never been proven. It has not been proven,” Winfrey said. “…Why do they keep doing this? In my opinion, I think they feel like they can bully us and get away with it, but that’s not the case, that’s not the case. is not the case. We will continue to do our work at a reasonable pace and to the letter of the law.

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