Lawsuit filed in Calhoun County to halt re-tabulation of absentee votes in key Michigan House race

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Steve Frisbee and the Committee to Elect Steve Frisbee to State House against the Calhoun County Board of County Canvassers.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday to stop re-tabulation of Battle Creek absentee ballots is the latest in the race for the 44th District in the Michigan House of Representatives between Frisbee and Rep. Jim Haadsma, D-Battle Creek.

"Plaintiffs bring this action for mandamus to prevent Defendant from ordering a recounting of all votes already tabulated at Battle Creek Absent Voter Counting Boards (‘AVCBs’) as part of the canvassing process," the lawsuit states.

Programming errors on election night resulted in thousands of votes not being counted. The updated, unofficial results showed Frisbee with a 58-vote lead instead of 1,381.

Calls to Frisbee's lawyers and the Calhoun County administration and the county communication's director were not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

More: Here's how Calhoun County voted in the Nov. 5 election

According to Haadsma's team, after being informed of the lawsuit by the Frisbee campaign, canvassers halted re-tabulation late this morning. An hour later, the board of canvassers took a second unanimous vote to direct election workers to resume re-tabulation of the city's more than 7,400 absentee votes.

“I want to see every vote accurately counted, regardless of whether it impacts the results of the election,” Haadsma said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed. “Confidence in our elections is essential to the health of our democracy, and the people of Battle Creek deserve to know that every effort was made to ensure the accurate tabulation of their votes.”

Angela Benander, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, told the Free Press Battle Creek used two high-speed absentee ballot tabulators but the reported numbers did not combine the results from the two tabulators and instead excluded about half the results due to the programming issue.

“The lawsuit should be dead on arrival and looks like Rudy Guiliani helped draft it. The bi-partisan Calhoun County Board of Canvassers already voted unanimously twice to reject the arguments and to follow the law and guidance from the Bureau of Elections to correct the election evening errors by retabulating," said Christopher Trebilcock, Haadsma's lawyer. "That work is thankfully and correctly continuing despite this effort. This type of frivolous election litigation needs to stop. Calhoun County deserves better."

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Lawsuit Calhoun County to halt re-tabulation of absentee votes in key Michigan House race