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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Michigan Court Affirms Mayoral Election Result

(CN) - Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's election victory survived a legal challenge in the Michigan Court of Appeals. Tommy Joe Barrow protested the outcome of the November 2009 election of Bing, a former basketball star who played for the Detroit Pistons.

Election results held that Bing beat Barrow by a count of 70,166 to 50,785, but the Wayne County Board of Canvassers granted Barrow's request for a recount.

All of the ballots were not considered in the recount, but the canvassers again named Bing the winner by a tally of 65,946 to 47,062.

Barrow tried to initiate criminal fraud proceedings, but the state attorney general declined to prosecute the case due to a lack of evidenc.

Barrow then carried the case to civil court, arguing that a "monumental number of irregularities which may have indeed derived from fraud or gross errors" caused him to lose the election.

Bing and other defendants named in the suit replied that Barrow's challenge was speculative and that a new election would cost the city $2 million.

Wayne Circuit Court agreed that Barrow's complaint did not warrant further inquiry, and the Michigan Court of Appeals agreed in an unsigned opinion.

"Plaintiff never attempted to amend his application to add any specific, precise, definite, or clear and positive factual allegations," the appeals court wrote. "Thus, we conclude that the trial court correctly found that plaintiff's application failed to disclose sufficient facts and grounds, and sufficient apparent merit, to justify further inquiry."

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