Although Mike Cox woke up Nov. 6 as Michigan's next attorney general, his opponent says it just might have been a dream.
Cox, a Republican who's the deputy chief of the homicide unit of the Office of Prosecuting Attorney in Wayne County, unofficially has 1,497,434 votes compared to Sen. Gary Peters' 1,491,031 votes. State law requires a separation of 2,000 votes or fewer between the two to trigger an automatic recount. Peters can request a recount outside the .065 percent margin.
The 6,000 votes that separate the two is about a .3 percent margin and Peters' camp said there are indications that some precincts might have misreported or failed to report numbers for the attorney general race.
They point to a precinct in Dearborn where a "3" was left off Peters' total, changing his total from 96 to 396 after the error was corrected.
"Different sets of numbers have been reported, scratched, revised, then scratched again," a release from Peters spokesman Mark Fisk says. "Expect that to continue as totals are double-checked, and routine errors are discovered."
Within a week, vote totals should be certified by counties and by the State Board of Canvassers and Peters will then decide whether to seek a recount.
"It's going to be up to Peters whether he wants to challenge the results and pay for a recount," said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. "It's a free country. The chances of success are very, very meager."
If Peters seeks a recount, it will cost him $10 a precinct. A full recount would cost about $58,000 but such a recount isn't required, said Bradley Wittman, director of Information Services for the Michigan Department of State's Bureau of Elections.
"Statewide recounts are not common," he said. "The last one was the 1950 governor's race and it was never completed."
Stu Sandler, spokesman for Cox, said he considers the race over and is preparing for the attorney general's spot.
"It's been over since Election Day," he said. "The numbers are solid. They're staying where they were."
