(WWJ) - Many races in Michigan, including the race for attorney general, are still too close to call Wednesday morning as a record number of votes flooded election workers Tuesday -- and results are still coming in from places like Detroit.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said during a press conference in the state's offices in the New Center that Michiganders requested a historic 2 million absentee ballots for Tuesday's midterm elections, with 1.8 million being returned by 8:30 p.m.
WWJ's Charlie Langton reported live at Huntington Place in Detroit Wednesday morning where officials are still working to ensure every vote is counted.
"The lights are on and there are people inside counting those votes. They've been counting those absentee votes for sure since 7 a.m. yesterday," Langton reported. "Under new state law, votes could be prepared on Sunday and Monday and then the counting of those absentees could start at 7 a.m., so they've been working around the clock to get those votes tabulated."
Langton added that there are roughly 80,000 absentee ballots believed to be from the City of Detroit while Benson said the state was on track to break the previous record of 4.3 million votes cast in the 2018 midterm election.
The record for the most voter turnout for a midterm election was 4.3 million votes cast in 2018, which trumped the previous record of 3.85 million votes in 2006.
According to Benson, the final number of votes for the 2022 midterms won't be known until Wednesday.
Back in Detroit, voters requested 90,000 absentee ballots, with 80,000 returned, Benson said. In her speech last evening, she estimated 60,000 "have already been processed and tabulated."
"There were no widespread or major disruptions reported to us today and any minor issues were addressed quickly and without stopping voters from casting their ballot," Benson said.
"We know of two instances where poll challengers may have acted inappropriately, but as our preparation was ready, poll workers practiced the de-escalation practices we had prepared, and after conversations, both challengers departed polling places without any major instances," Benson said of the circumstances surrounding incidents reported in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Benson also acknowledge there were "minor" problems with poll books, which she described as a "technology glitch."
"In a few instances this morning, upon checking in a voter, some electronic poll books at polling places displayed an error message stating that the number on the ballot that they were about to provide to the voter in the precinct was identical to a number on an absentee ballot that had already been issued," Benson said. "When this occurred, the poll worker then simply added an additional letter to the precinct ballot to distinguish them from the absentee ballot. Then the voters, who hadn't voted in any way, were able to cast their ballot."
Langton was at the polling station at Nolan Elementary-Middle School off Lantz St. where the computer glitch occurred. Several voters said they showed up to vote in person, but were told by workers that they had already submitted absentee ballots.
In a statement from voting officials in Detroit, the Department of Elections is aware of the problem, where "computer snag" was identified as the problem, Langton reported.
"They are encouraging officials to use to hard copy voter list, not the electronic lists, and they say anyone who shows up will be allowed to vote," Langton reported.