Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum issues statement on Election Reprogramming

INGHAM COUNTY, Mich. (WILX) - Testing of materials and programming is an important part of the election process. Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) issued a statement regarding the reprogramming of election materials ahead of the Nov. 8 General Election.

“As Ingham County’s Chief Elections Official, I hold the safety and security of our elections as my highest priorities,” said Ingham County Clerk Byrum. “The public puts its trust in our elections administrators to ensure that our elections are run in accordance with those priorities.”

It was brought to the attention of County Clerk Byrum by a local clerk conducting their pre-election testing, that there was a small concern with the election programming that would need to be fixed.

County Clerk Byrum said, “My staff, in consultation with our election vendor, discovered the root of the problem was the removal of the Lansing Township Annexation proposals ordered off the ballot last minute and were able to remediate it within days.”

As a result of the updated programming, County Clerk Byrum notified Ingham County’s local city and township clerks that they would need to return the election materials to be reprogrammed with the updated programming according to her statement.

“I find it disappointing that one of the local clerks has chosen to sensationalize this situation by bringing it to the press. Their sole motivation must be a misguided attempt to undermine the public’s confidence in our elections, and I find that reprehensible,” said Ingham County Clerk Byrum. “Ingham County’s clerks know very well that there are occasional fixes needed with the election materials. It is a routine process for clerks to bring election programming materials to my office to be updated and is not a remarkable one. That someone would try to make it seem that way is opportunistic and shameful.”

Also mentioned in the statement, election law requires that election programming be tested in the public eye in the weeks before each and every election. Discovering this fix before the election is the process working. Clerks will take the new programming and conduct public accuracy testing, as required under law, and this election will run smoothly.

“Anyone trying to imply otherwise as a result of this routine correction is simply misleading the public,” said Ingham County Clerk Byrum.

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