Roughly 20,000 votes were miscounted in the Michigan State University Board of Trustees race — an error that was later resolved but, before discovered, could have altered who won the second open seat.
Republican Mike Balow secured his place on the board yesterday, receiving 24.9% of votes. Republican Julie Maday had been consistently in second place, but was overtaken by Democrat Rebecca Bahar-Cook Thursday afternoon when the additional votes were counted.
Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski said he received a call yesterday alerting him to a discrepancy between unofficial votes listed on Allegan County’s website and the Michigan Secretary of State’s website.
Genetski said that while data had been directly uploaded to the county’s website from the machine that counts the votes, the numbers on the Secretary of State’s website had been typed in by hand.
"During the hand keying in of the results, a 'Zero' was missed that led to the difference," Genetski wrote in an email to The State News. "The state was informed of the discrepancy this morning and the county submitted the edit."
Maday, who declared victory Wednesday as some news outlets prematurely called the race for her, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did a spokesperson for the Secretary of State.
It’s still unclear whether Bahar-Cook will maintain her lead. With an estimated 99% of the votes in, AP has not yet called the second seat. Around 6,000 additional military and overseas ballots have yet to be counted, the Lansing State Journal reported.
As of Friday evening, Bahar-Cook has 6,247 more votes than Maday.
In fourth place is Democrat Thomas Stallworth, who received 2,250,716 votes, or 22.6%.
In Ingham County, where MSU’s East Lansing campus is located, Democrats hold a stronger lead. Bahar-Cook and Stallworth currently hold 31.7% and 29.4% in the county, respectively, while Balow and Maday hold 17.4% and 16.8%.
The trustees-elect will replace Trustee Dianne Byrum and Board Chair Dan Kelly, whose terms end Jan. 1, 2025. If current results hold, Balow will replace Kelly as the board’s sole Republican.
A veteran and parent of an MSU alum, Balow wants to ensure transparency and promote dialogue at the university. MSU’s self-described "ninth trustee," he’s a constant presence at board meetings and has been a longtime advocate for bringing back MSU’s dissolved swim and dive team.
Balow intends to have university staff reach out to everyone who signs up for public comment at board meetings to see whether MSU leaders can personally address their issues. He thinks trustees should be less secretive and hold meetings more often.
Bahar-Cook, CEO of a Lansing consulting firm, says she wants to bring the board together, increase student enrollment and lower tuition rates.
The former Ingham County commissioner and MSU alum says if elected, she would use her political experience to encourage collaboration.
Maday, a former Novi City Council member and parent of an MSU alum, says she would offer stability and promote collaboration to the board. To ensure the university’s affordability, she wants to prevent "wasting" money on avoidable lawsuits.
Stallworth, a longtime Detroit lawmaker, wants to make MSU more affordable and safe. An MSU alum, Stallworth says he would campaign the state government for more funding for higher education and ensure that MSU is continuing to follow recommendations for improving campus safety after the February 2023 campus shooting.
MSU’s board is tasked with overseeing the president and making big-picture decisions about the university’s finances and operations. Their terms last eight years, with two seats opening up every two years. The trustees are elected in statewide partisan races, and occasionally appointed by the governor if a trustee's resignation or other circumstances result in a vacated seat during a term.
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