City of Detroit hired 2,000+ more Dem poll workers than GOP in 2024 primary, violating state law

The Detroit Department of Elections hired 2,000+ more Democrats than Republicans as poll workers for the August primary election, similar to prior elections over the last four years and contrary to state law. That law states that election clerks must “appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.”

Nearly 80% more Democrats were hired as poll workers for Detroit’s primary election this year compared to Republicans. This stark contrast is a trend that has repeatedly occurred over the last four years in Detroit and happened in Flint in 2022, despite state law requiring nearly equal numbers of poll workers from both political parties.

A total of 2,340 Democrats and 308 Republicans worked the Aug. 6 primary election, according to city data shared with Just the News, which was obtained and reviewed by Michigan Fair Elections (MFE), Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME), and the Michigan Conservative Coalition (MCC). There were 2,827 workers in total, making Republicans just 11% of the workers.

Of the 308 Republicans, MFE identified the voting histories of 143 of them. From the 143, there were 131 who had voted in Democratic primary elections.

In May, the Republican Party provided Detroit with a list of 676 Republican election worker candidates for the August primary election, but the city only hired 52 of them.

Michigan law states, “The board of election commissioners shall appoint at least 1 election inspector from each major political party and shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.” Poll workers can come from anywhere in the state, so they do not have to be Detroit residents to work in the city’s elections.

This year’s primary election proportionally had more Republicans serve as election workers than prior elections. In the 2022 general election, Republicans made up 7% of the total number of workers, 10% in the 2022 primary election, and 3% in the 2020 general election.

“Our constitution was founded on the concept that checks and balances are the best way to ensure fairness,” Patrice Johnson, founder and chair of PIME, said in a statement Sunday. “When your numbers are out-of-kilter and you don’t have a fair balance, the check-and-balance system breaks down.”

Michigan Republican Party Grassroots Vice Chair Marian Sheridan said in a statement Sunday, “The situation in Detroit is particularly concerning given the city's size and role in processing a large number of ballots.” She added that “Detroit election officials need to take immediate steps to rectify the imbalance and ensure that future elections are conducted according to the law.”

The Detroit Department of Elections didn’t immediately provide comment on Tuesday.

Below are the numbers of election workers in Detroit over the past four years, which The Federalist also reviewed. There may be some duplicate entries in Detroit's data on election workers and thus a small margin of error.

2024 Primary Election: 2,827 total workers

308 Republicans (11 percent of the total)

2,340 Democrats

179 Other

2022 General Election: 4,715 total workers

331 Republicans (7 percent of the total)

3,078 Democrats

1,306 Other

2022 Primary Election: 5,270 total workers

501 Republicans (10 percent of the total)

3,373 Democrats

1,396 Other

2020 General Election: 5,486 total workers

170 Republicans (3 percent of the total)

3,393 Democrats

1,923 Other

Gates McGavick, senior advisor to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, told The Federalist, “We are very aware of the poll worker parity issue in Detroit and gathering necessary information as we weigh our legal options to remedy the situation.

“We sued Flint, Michigan over that city’s failure to hire Republican poll workers, and have sued counties in Arizona and Nevada over this same issue. Poll worker parity is a key plank of our election integrity litigation operation, which has engaged more than 100 lawsuits this cycle alone.”

The RNC’s and state GOP’s lawsuit against Flint was dismissed by the Court of Appeals in March, deciding that the two parties lacked standing to bring the case. The three judge panel did not rule on the merits of the case. 

The lawsuit came after PIME sent a demand letter to Flint in 2022, warning of possible legal action over the imbalance of Republican and Democratic poll workers for that year’s primary election. Flint’s clerk resigned after the letter was sent.

During this past August primary election, Detroit had another issue. The election results were delayed because of a faulty computer firewall, causing election workers to drive the results across Wayne County, in which the city is located.

The firewall issues prevented local clerks from electronically submitting the results, so the clerks had to physically transport the results to downtown Detroit, said the county clerk's office, according to NBC News.

The results began posting online well after midnight.

Detroit has had to employ temporary election workers in the past. In 2020, the Detroit City Council approved a $1 million contract for lawyer and entrepreneur William A. Phillips' staffing firm P.I.E. Management, LLC to hire up to 2,000 workers to work the polls and staff the ballot counting machines. Phillips was himself drawn into political controversy as a friend and former aide to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a Democrat, who was convicted in 2013 of a wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy that included extortion, bribery, and fraud, according to the FBI.

Poll observers claimed that in 2020 they were kept from observing ballots as allowed by law or witnessed unusual behavior that included piercing the secrecy of some ballots and unexplained additions and rejections of votes. The allegations have not led to any law enforcement investigations or charges.