Warren officials want timely election results

WARREN — In an attempt to obtain faster election results, the Warren city clerk recently requested a $140,370 high-speed ballot tabulator. The Warren City Council, however, countered by voting for more election workers and stressing the need to get the “sticks” to the county in a timely manner.

An emergency meeting was called for 6:00 p.m. Oct. 28 after Warren City Clerk Sonja Buffa requested the meeting a few days earlier for council to approve the purchase of the high-speed tabulator. According to Warren City Council Secretary Mindy Moore, at approximately 4:30 p.m. the day of the meeting, Buffa changed the request from buying the machine to renting it for $40,000. She also reportedly requested to cancel the meeting.

“People were on their way. We had done a substantial amount of investigation during the weekend and found out a lot of information that needed to be discussed,” Moore said. “And we were hoping to have some of our questions answered by the clerk. I informed her that the meeting was not canceled. It would go forward.”

Warren City Councilman Jonathan Lafferty concurred, as did many of the other council members.

“Members on this City Council worked unnecessarily throughout the weekend to assist,” Lafferty said. “We offered assistance and she’s not here to answer questions. This is unacceptable by any stretch.”

Managing early voting, processing absentee ballots, registering voters, mailing ballots to voters who are out of the country and to those serving in the military, and coordinating with the post office about express mail are just some of the things Buffa said she is doing during this election season.

“I have been preparing for this election since last November and have been working late at City Hall until 10, 11 o’clock at night. I sent my deputy clerk on my behalf as the (city) charter states I can do,” Buffa said.

Deputy Clerk Lisa Diolordi tried to answer the council's questions.

“We wanted to find out some answers to serious questions. We weren’t able to get those answered,” Moore said.  “I don’t think the deputy was there to answer questions because she didn’t know the answer to very many of them.”

The city currently has four voting tabulators, the DS450, that together process 300 ballots per minute. One DS950 would process 280 ballots in 1 minute.

“I knew they (council members) weren’t going to approve the DS950. I gave them an option,” Buffa said. “They could have voted on purchasing or renting the machine, but they didn’t.”

According to Moore, the agenda cannot be changed at a special meeting. They would have had to have another meeting to vote on renting the machine. The City Council would have to approve a rental contract, according to Moore, but would not have to appropriate the $40,000 because Buffa already had that in her budget. Moore asked to see the rental contract, but said no contract was presented.

A letter signed by Buffa requesting the money for the new machine would come from the general contingency fund and a line item transfer for office equipment could be made to cover the expense of the tabulator. According to Moore, who is among those who approves the department’s budget, this was not in the clerk’s budget. It was discussed that the clerk applied for a grant for the new tabulator and if the money was appropriated for the it, she could pay a large portion of it back once the grant money was received. When the council asked to see the grant application or the name of the grant, no one from the city had that information.

Warren Mayor Lori Stone, who was not at the meeting, later said, “I was disappointed that the council was politicizing it (getting the new machine).” 

Stone lauded Buffa for her more than 24 years of experience in the clerk’s office.

After a discussion with Diolordi, Warren City Controller Rick Fox and Kristina Lodovisi, the mayor’s chief of staff, council members voted to hire more election workers to process the ballots more quickly, which would cost much less than renting or buying the new tabulator.

“When would I have time to hire and train more people?” Buffa said. “No council member has ever come here (to the clerk’s office) to see what we do. Because they don’t know what we do, it is difficult to take their suggestions seriously.”

Further discussion among the council members revealed that the tabulation of votes may not be causing the delay. Rather, the delivery of the flash drives to the county may be the issue.

Council members expressed that they were concerned about Warren’s reputation and that they did not want the results to be delayed. Michigan is a swing state and Macomb County can be pivotal in a close election.

“Other cities manage to get it (delivered to the county) done on time,” Councilman Henry Newnan said. “Why can’t we?”

Buffa said when her office used modems, the results were transmitted to the county immediately, just by pushing the “close poll” button. The modems were taken away by the county clerk a few years ago, she said.

“Before I was (county) clerk, the sticks were never delivered to the county, they depended on the modems only, which is not the proper way of doing it,” Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said. “I changed that process to make sure the sticks got delivered and we (followed) proper protocol.”

Forlini said there were three ballot tabulator brands — Hart, Dominion and ES&S — used in Michigan. Each one comes with its own modem. Only the Hart modem was federally certified; therefore, communities using the other machines had to get rid of their modems. 

“Oakland County uses Hart,” Forlini said.

“I am hoping to have a great election,” Forlini said. “I have all the confidence in the world that all the clerks are going to do a great job and get their stuff in, including Warren.”

“I don’t know if you’d call it a problem,” Forlini added, when asked about Warren’s results delivery in the past? “I would just like to have them more timely and when the sticks are done, I’d like to have them transported to our office before the paperwork is done so we can at least let you, the media, and everybody else know.”

Buffa said, “I will give him my flash drives when I am ready.”

She did not receive anything she requested from the emergency meeting. 

Asked what she will do, she said, “I’ll be vindicated.”

Call Staff Writer Gena Johnson at (586) 498-1069.