Nelson Po requests recount of Sumpter Township election

On Monday, Aug. 10, a group of five Sumpter Township residents drove to the Wayne County Elections Commission on the fifth floor of the Coleman A. Young municipal building in Detroit to file notarized complaints on the primary election held Aug. 4.
They also supported Nelson Po in his request for a recount of all the precincts and absentee voter ballots for supervisor.
Po was defeated by incumbent Supervisor John Morgan in the August primary with an announced count of 676 votes for Morgan to 327 for Po. Morgan’s total included 470 absentee votes and Po’s total included 159 absentee votes.
Po said he is waiting to hear back from the county concerning the Sumpter response before deciding just how far he will ask the recount to go.
Po said he was told by the election official that within 24 hours Sumpter Township would be sent copies of the notarized complaints and the news that a recount is being requested. Then, Sumpter has three days to respond to the county on the request.
“I’m not going away. I’m here,” Po said when he delivered copies of the notarized affidavits to the Independent office. The affidavits carried the stamp of Wayne County indicating they had been received by the county.
The affidavits were signed by Po, Toni Clark, James Clark (a winning candidate for treasurer), Sherry Olds (a losing candidate for clerk), and David Hartford, Jr.
Also included in the packet to the county was page four of the Aug. 6 Independent with comments on the letter received by a senior citizen tucked into her absentee ballot envelope. The letter urged the voter to support the incumbents because of all the awful things that would happen if she voted for Po and those he endorsed.