Recount of ballots is needed to clear a few matters up

          Mayoral candidate, and current city councilmember, Cathie Gordon said she’s calling for a recount of Tuesday’s election.

          That’s a good thing.

          We heard numerous rumors of illegitimate – heck, even fraudulent — ballots being cast. Deputy City Clerk August Gitschlag says there are 46 absentee ballots that are marked as challenged because three people who submitted them were not authorized to do so.

          Under Michigan law, a person who casts an absentee ballot must either mail it back, or return it themselves or have an immediate family do so. In the three instances cited, people who were not related to the voters returned the ballots.

          That’s a violation of the law.

          Gordon is doing the community a favor by asking for a recount. This way, we can all see whether there is a case to be made over whether there were illegitimate ballots cast.

          There is no doubt that some of this mistrust springs from the amount of emotion invested in this election.

          Thankfully, there is a mechanism to double-check this year’s election process.