Complaint from Dearborn Precinct During Primaries Unsubstantiated, Clerk Says

A complaint made by a Dearborn voter concerning a poll worker at her voting location was found to be unsubstantiated, City Clerk Kathy Buda said.

According to Buda, a voter contacted her Tuesday and said a poll worker at Precinct 3––was making comments about candidates as they checked the her in.

She "was adamant" that the poll worker was attempting to sway her vote, Buda said.

Poll workers at the location told Patch that "the situation has been sorted out" as of late Tuesday afternoon, and campaigners working for the Arab American Political Action Committee said they didn't hear anything inappropriate being said to voters.

Buda, upon arriving at the location to investigate, agreed.

"I questioned the three remaining poll workers," she said, adding that she also spoke with the polling location's chairperson and the worker in question. "It seemed to be OK and I did not feel I had to fire that person."

Buda said complaints are rare in Dearborn elections. This was the only complaint she received during the primary election, and the only she has received from that particular polling location ever.

"I'm hoping that it didn't happen, because I have confidence in this poll worker," Buda said. "I felt like she was being truthful."

It was a bumpy Election Day for Dearborn altogether, starting with a federal lawsuit forcing the clerk's office to after those ballots were delivered late.

Then, on Tuesday morning, laptops set to be delivered to poll workers to facilitate the voting process . As a result, a handful of voters had to leave and were asked to come back to vote.

Of the latter situation, Buda said Tuesday afternoon that they underestimated the amount of time it would take to deliver and set up the laptops.

"We're just going to have to have more people," she said of laptop delivery for the November general election.