I am a Republican and a City Clerk. I have never spoken out about a Tweet by the President, but this is an insult to every EO and every election worker. We take an OATH. I take my oath seriously. We review every single signature on every app and ballot. https://theeighth.michiganradio.org/2020/03/11/a-d

Link to tweet

Tina Barton, the city clerk, shakes my hand, thanks me for coming, and says, “If I catch you taking notes, I’m going to call the sheriff. No bullshit.” I clear my throat and compliantly nod, and she gets back to her duties.

Barton’s threat didn’t catch me that off guard. This is the first presidential election year in which Michigan voters can cast an absentee ballot for no reason, and the result has been a surge in applications. To see what that looks like, I had been trying the entire previous week to find a way onto Barton’s counting board as both a volunteer and a reporter. She wouldn’t allow recording equipment into the room, nor would I be allowed to duck out for periodic phone dispatches back to the station. When I asked about bringing a notebook, she cited a case in which a volunteer in Bloomfield Township went to jail for meddling with ballots, and told me no.

This was no posture. The process for opening and counting Rochester Hills’ absentee ballots (8,930 returned for this primary) was nothing if not secure. An employee collected our phones in a wicker basket first thing, so we couldn’t share results with outsiders. We had to travel to the bathroom in pairs. The absentee ballots themselves were repeatedly and painstakingly verified for accuracy.

Here’s a rundown of that counting process.

https://theeighth.michiganradio.org/2020/03/11/a-day-inside-the-rochester-hills-absentee-voter-counting-board/