A new start politically – but, for many, doubts

Hamtramck’s election is now over, and we have new members on city council and a new mayor.
Or do we?
This election is now under a cloud of suspicion about its integrity, with some absentee ballots showing something that fishy happened.
Specifically, signatures that don’t match the signatures of voters, and some absentee ballots with no signatures.
There are ongoing concerns about some candidates and their supporters ballot harvesting – an issue that those in charge of enforcing election laws continue to either ignore, or dither over whether to move forward with investigations or even the filing of criminal charges.
A number of people are now sitting out local elections here in the belief their vote doesn’t count if candidates are going to rely on cheating to win.
In short, some believe Hamtramck elections are a joke – and we don’t blame them.
What we hope is that our newly elected leaders will push to clean up these doubts, and pressure state investigators to do their collective job: insure the integrity of elections.
Why is that so hard for the state?
Meanwhile, Hamtramck, like many communities, will be facing some challenging times in the next few years.
We hope that, with a fresh start in January, elected officials here will buckle down and get to work shoring up our city finances.
Hamtramck better prepare — and clean up its election mess.
Posted Nov. 7, 2025