ESCANABA — Following comments made by former Escanaba City Council Member Ron Beauchamp criticizing the election that led to his ousting, election officials have come forward to give their side of the story.

“We have proper steps and procedures in place in order to fully make sure these elections are run with the utmost integrity, and we do things by the book — just to make sure these elections are accurate and everybody can have confidence that when they’re casting their vote it’s going to be tabulated,” said Escanaba City Clerk Phil DeMay.

DeMay and the Escanaba Clerk’s office came under fire at the regular city council meeting recently when Beauchamp took to the podium during a public comment period to criticize the handling of ballots during and after the Nov. 5 election. Beauchamp, who had paid to have a recount conducted Nov. 18, alleged the first bag of ballots brought out for the recount had had its security tag replaced sometime between election night and Monday’s recount. He also claimed another set of ballots was brought forth with a single ballot outside of the locked and secured bag.