The Wayne county board of canvassers certified the results of the election in 2016 unanimously despite a far higher discrepancy rate than this year - because small discrepancies between the number of voters checked in and those who cast ballots is NORMAL.
The two republicans were even willing to certify the results in Livonia, a suburb in Wayne county outside of Detroit, even tho the discrepancies there were several times higher than any precinct within Detroit. What’s that? That’s racism.
So why did these discrepancies happen? Bc some folks sign on the wrong line,then sign on the appropriate line to check in. Others aren’t checked in at all bc the poll worker makes an error and gives them the ballot first. Others check in, get to a voting machine and don’t vote.
This is normal. It happens in pre-sinks across the country. No other board of canvassers – or the equivalent in the state - has held up certification this year on this basis. Because election administrators know that these discrepancies are normal, and you can explain them.
No serious person in election administration who knows anything about how to do their jobs suggests that this is fraudulent. It’s not. It is a function of American voting. It always has been.
Journalist need to get pretty comfortable with using the word racist here, because that’s what this is.