We understand why some people — perhaps many people — in the Marquette Area Public Schools district are unhappy with a local resident’s move to force a recount of some of the votes cast back on May 5 in the MAPS bond issue election. The millage, which will ultimately total about $60 million, was approved, 3,628 yes votes and 3,116 no votes, so it wasn’t particularly close. The money will provide funding to address facility, safety and learning-environment needs across all district schools.

Resident Margaret Brumm, no stranger to controversy in her own right, filed the recount request in response to a Facebook post made by WLUC, TV6 on the night of the election which incorrectly claimed that the bond proposal had failed. It was an unfortunate error, which the station corrected almost immediately, but the damage was done. Brumm is ponying up $2,000 of her own money to underwrite the recount of just 4 precincts: Marquette precincts 3 and 4, Chocolay Township precinct 2 and Marquette Township precinct 1.

MAPS Superintendent Zack Sedgwick had a valid point when he said, “The Facebook post occurred well after the election polls had closed. Consequently, the erroneous report could not have swayed any voters, as all votes had already been cast. In short, the recount petition is based solely on a false media report, and not on anything directly related to how the May 5 election was conducted.”

The recount itself, which will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 28 at the Marquette Township Hall, will include just ballots cast the day of the election, a spokesperson for the Marquette County Clerk’s Office confirmed.

Sedgwick observed, and accurately, we believe, that Brumm’s recount may cause other expenses, including but not limited to bond planning and when the new levy will show up on residents’ tax bills. Regrettably, the state law governing recounts doesn’t seem to contain a mechanism to collect funds beyond whose billed by the county clerk’s office.

Recounts seldom change election results. That’s just a matter of fact. According to the non-partisan FairVote, recounts resulted in only three reversals in the United States between 2000 and 2023, or one out of every 2,310 statewide elections. All three reversals occurred when the initial margin was less than 0.06% of all votes cast for the top two candidates. The last statewide recount reversal was the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, FairVote reported.

The recount demands and allegations of fraud and election stealing that have highlighted the recent culture wars in Washington, D.C. and around the country have typically been baseless political stunts undertaken by the losing side.

The bottom line with this recount is easy to see. The city of Marquette and townships of Marquette and Chocolay have lengthy histories of running clean elections. Don’t look for anything much to change.

What’s happening here is simply Brumm exercising her right to force the recall while many residents in the MAPS district exercise their rights to not like it.