Breaking news … Court rules against counting 37 uncounted ballots in election

Mayoral candidate lost his bid to have 37 uncounted absentee ballots counted.

By Charles Sercombe
For 37 voters here in Hamtramck, they are out of luck in getting their ballots counted.
Wayne County Chief Judge Patricia Perez Fresard today ruled against counting their votes.
Mayoral hopeful Muhith Mahmood sought to get the ballots counted.
Those absentee ballots were discovered in the city clerk’s office after the election was over. City Clerk Rana Faraj said she handed them to Wayne County election officials after the election, but the Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on a vote to have the ballots counted.
The tie voted automatically meant that the ballots could not be counted.
Mayor-elect Adam Alharbi argued against counting the ballots because they were left unsecured and could have been tampered with.
In a hearing Tuesday (Dec. 23) morning, Judge Fresard gave a hint on how she would rule, saying that it’s not always possible to protect the rights of “every single voter.”
Her ruling came late this afternoon.
Mahmood has filed for an appeal.
His attorney, Mark Brewer, the former longtime chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, argues that not counting the ballots disenfranchises those voters and that it is “unconstitutional.”
He argued for three options: count the ballots; have the voters verify their ballots and who they voted for; or have those voters recast their votes.
Mahmood, who opted to not seek another term on city council and instead seek the job as mayor, lost the election by a razor thin 11 votes.
The ballots in question came from Precinct 2 which is predominantly made up of Bengali voters. Mahmood is a Bengali-American, and he thought was he would likely have a good chance of overturning the mayoral election results.
And it was would also likely that Alharbi would have appealed the judge’s decision.
As of now, Alharbi is sent to take office on Jan. 1.
Mayor Amer Ghalib did not seek re-election in the hopes of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be ambassador to Kuwait.
Those hopes appear to be dashed as he faced tough grilling from both Democratic and Republican senators who deemed some of his past statements and social media activities as being antisemitic.
Ghalib says he is in line to get a job with the Trump administration.
Posted Dec. 23, 2025