Chaos erupts in Detroit after Republican poll challengers demand an end to vote count
DETROIT — Things are getting tense in the TCF Center after the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit to stop vote counting until it receives greater access to the counting sites.
Around 2:30 p.m. ET, a large group of Republican poll challengers arrived at the door of the massive basement room where Detroit election workers are processing the small number of absentee and military ballots that still need to be counted and were angry to learn they would not be allowed inside due to capacity issues.
Sharon Dolente, the voting rights strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, estimated that both parties have more than 100 poll challengers in the room.
#BREAKING: Large, animated crush of “stop the count” protestors trying to push their way into TCF hall in
#Detroit where ballots are being counted.
They’re being blocked by guards at the door.
Pizza boxes are pushed against the window to obstruct view. It’s tense.
@NBCNews pic.twitter.com/zFhzd88skX
— Steve Patterson (@PattersonNBC)
November 4, 2020
A group of challengers who have not been allowed in has remained in a lobby outside the counting room, staring through windows, shaking their heads. Soon after the commotion outside the room, a group of poll challengers on the convention center floor started clapping and chanting, demanding that the vote be stopped.
But the city continued to count ballots — an election official made an announcement telling all supervisors to return to their counting tables.
At about 3:15 p.m. ET, one man was removed from the room by police as workers applauded. Another was removed five minutes later.