LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Concerns about accuracy and transparency are mounting after Michigan Democrats’ April endorsement convention, where a series of problems – ranging from a glitchy mobile voting system to delegate registration delays and questions about voter eligibility – cast a shadow over the process, even affecting Michigan’s own attorney general.
In Michigan, both Democrats and Republicans use party conventions to nominate certain candidates for statewide offices ahead of the general election. Rather than going through a traditional primary, delegates – selected through local party processes – gather at these conventions to vote on endorsements and, in most cases, officially determine nominees for positions like attorney general, secretary of state, and university boards. These conventions can carry significant weight, as the party-backed candidates often advance to the November ballot with institutional support and resources.
Top officials say votes were miscounted.
But as this year’s Democratic convention held on April 19 at Huntington Place in Detroit, showed, the process doesn’t always go smoothly and Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel is among those calling for an independent audit after discovering her own vote wasn’t recorded correctly.
Nessel said in a statement, “I learned in the days immediately following the convention that the Election Buddy app did not correctly attribute my votes or my congressional district, and I immediately notified the impacted candidates and the state party chair.”
Nessel also used her statement to push back against any charges that her party wouldn’t be able to run a legitimate and transparent election saying, “There’s a substantial and documented difference between voting on a third party mobile phone application at a partisan convention and the long- established, decentralized process utilized by Michigan’s over 1,600 bipartisan clerks each election.”
However, Nessel didn’t mention in her statement that they had other issues at the convention including a long delay when trying to register the delegates.
Questions over remote and ineligible voting.
The audit push gained traction after State Sen. Sylvia Santana formally challenged the results of her race for Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees, which she narrowly lost. According to multiple reports, Santana’s campaign’s filing alleges “material errors,” including evidence that more than 200 votes may have been cast remotely – despite party rules requiring delegates to be physically present at the Detroit convention.
The filing also raises concerns about approximately 300 voters who didn’t appear on official delegate lists of voter eligibility. Santana is requesting an audit of all results by an outside firm and said in her filing that the party hadn’t “fulfilled its responsibility of running a procedurally fair and transparent convention that complies with its own rules and regulations.”
More Democrats back independent review.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, who also participated in the convention and ran for the attorney general position, voiced support for an audit. McDonald says, “After reviewing the results of the MDP Endorsement Convention, it became clear that votes were incorrectly recorded, people voted who were not onsite and some votes were not recorded at all.” She added that ensuring confidence in the outcome is critical.
Holding back results.
At the convention, the Democratic Party did not immediately release official vote totals for each candidate, fueling speculation about potential irregularities. Barring any changes resulting from appeals or audits, the current list of winners, many of them progressive candidates, remains as reported previously by Michigan News Source on April 20.
Party response.
The Michigan Democratic Party has not offered detailed public comment on the specific allegations of remote voting and ineligible voters other than initially admitting to logistical and technical issues. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has also not commented on the situation.
For now, the episode underscores an uncomfortable reality: the same political party asking voters to trust the integrity of upcoming midterm elections which are being ran by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (who is running for governor), is now grappling with its own internal voting breakdown – this after needing to tally only about 6,600 votes.
