Hamtramck mayoral race too close to call with 11 votes separating candidates

Hamtramck mayoral race too close to call with 11 vote difference

City officials say there are several reasons why the ballots are being questioned.

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (FOX 2) - Across the country elections have been decided - but the City of Hamtramck is still waiting to learn who the next mayor will be.

City officials say it is too close to call in the race between candidates Muhith Mahmood and Adam Alharbi.

"The community is very upset," said Mahmood. "And they don’t know exactly what’s going on or how did that happen."

The current count has Alharbi with 2,009 votes for a razor-thin lead against Mahmood, who had 1,998.

Alharbi said he was left feeling suspicious.

"If anything we can see that there is a divide within our community and also that voter fraud still exists," he said. "Because we’ve seen things throughout the campaign where voters didn't decide their vote."

FOX 2 spoke to City Clerk Rana Faraj for answers.

"The election was very close, there was an 11 vote difference," she said. "A couple of years ago, election law allowed us to give voters until Friday after the election at 5 o'clock to correct absentee ballots that were rejected."

City officials say there are several reasons why the ballots are being questioned.

"We have currently about 150 absentee ballots that were rejected for reasons such as no signature on the ballot, wrong signature - it doesn’t match," Faraj said. "The corrections are due Friday at five. They are due at Wayne County by Monday. So until Wayne County does their thing to count these ballots, it might take time."

As the city waits to learn who their next mayor will be, many residents are also asking questions.

"They should’ve started reading those absentee ballots earlier," said Diane, a Hamtramck resident. "Then they wouldn’t have this problem. But in Hamtramck, they never do anything right."

A request for a recount has to be made by a candidate and it has to go through the county.

The former mayor, Amer Ghalib, is currently in limbo amid the confirmation process after President Donald Trump nominated him to be ambassador to Kuwait.