By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Incumbent Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and City Clerk George Darany were re-elected Nov. 4, with newcomer Devon O’Reilly set to join six incumbents on the City Council.
O’Reilly’s grandfather and father served as Dearborn mayors.
Voters also rejected a citywide ward system by more than a 70 percent margin.
However, on Nov. 13, media reports indicate that Dearborn’s absentee ballots may have been improperly stored in the wrong type of container, breaking the chain of custody.
Darany was trailing his opponent, Sami Elhady, following precinct returns, but absentee ballots gave him sufficient votes to win the election.
Now, however, a recount would be scrutinized because the absentee ballots were in retention bags instead of certified ballot containers.
Votebeat (votebeat.org) reported that in 21 of the city’s 33 precincts, the number of absentee ballots tallied in the initial count did not match the number of absentee ballots recorded on the voter rolls as being cast, citing County Election Director Greg Mahar.
Votebeat also reported that the county canvassers split 2-2 along party lines whether to recount the precincts where the counts did not match. The canvassers were tentatively scheduled to meet Nov. 14 to reconsider the matter.
The vote tallies reported on the Wayne County Clerk’s election website indicate that, in Dearborn’s mayoral race, Hammoud received 18,531 votes to challenger Nagi Almudhegi’s 7,294 votes.
In the city clerk race, Darany received 13,022 votes to Elhady’s 10,586 votes. In early voting, Darany received 1,052 votes to Elhady’s 1,627 votes, and at the polls on election day, Darany received 6,185 votes to Elhady’s 7,571 votes. However, the absentee ballot count, with Darany receiving 5,785 votes to Elhady’s 1,388 votes, put the incumbent city clerk in the lead.
In the city council race, the winners are: Michael Sareini (16,508 votes), Kamal Alsawafy (13,284), Mustapha Hammoud (12,600), Robert Abraham (11,706), Ken Paris (10,668), Gary Enos (9,910), and Devon O’Reilly (9,619).
The city council runnerup candidates are: Sharon Dulmage (9,160), Mark Andrew (9,113), Shadi Mawari (8,929), Othman Ali Alaansi (8,254), Mubarek Ahmed (6,798), and Ahmad Othman (6,143).