Adams Township clerk accused of mishandling voting equipment recalled
A Hillsdale County township clerk whom state officials accused of improperly handling voting equipment after casting doubt on President Biden’s election victory in 2020 was recalled Tuesday in one of Michigan’s most conservative counties.
Stephanie Scott ran unopposed as a Republican first-time candidate when elected in the same November 2020 election to handle the voting in Adams Township, where about 2,200 people live along rural roads dotted with signs supporting Donald Trump.
The Hillsdale County Clerk’s Office ran the recall Tuesday, in which Scott faced Suzy Roberts for a partial term ending Nov. 20, 2024.
Scott was defeated by Roberts, who identifies as an independent. Roberts had 65.48%, or 406 votes with all six precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. Scott garnered 34.52%, or 214 votes.
In 2021, the Michigan Bureau of Elections prohibited Scott from administering that November's election after it said the clerk failed to comply with state requirements regarding voting equipment in the township.
The bureau said Scott refused to perform preventative maintenance or perform and sign off on public accuracy testing on township voting equipment. She also was alleged to have failed to confirm that she would use certified Hart Intercivic Inc. voting equipment, the township's vendor, for future elections.
Scott, who had various QAnon material on her social media account, told The Detroit News at the time that she didn't want to turn the township tabulator in for maintenance because she feared the county would erase information on the equipment, particularly as it related to the November 2020 presidential election.
She is among a number of elections officials around the country accused of mishandling voting equipment in their zeal to uncover fraud.
Biden won Michigan's 2020 election by 154,000 votes over Trump. The outcome has been upheld by a series of court rulings, more than 200 audits and an investigation by the Republican-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee.
State Bureau of Elections director Jonathan Brater noted in correspondence with the clerk that all data from the November 2020 and March 2021 elections were being stored in an election management system run by Hillsdale County. He said the required biennial maintenance of the equipment would not "destroy any records required to be maintained under federal or state law."
In October 2021, the Hillsdale County clerk, whose office had been tasked with administering the Adams Township elections the following month, discovered a key element of a township tabulator was missing.
Michigan State Police recovered the tablet after Scott allegedly refused to turn it over.
State police started an investigation to determine if tampering had occurred, but no criminal charges were filed.
A group of voters then circulated petitions, prompting the recall election.