Debunking criticisms

From White Lake Township Clerk Terry Lilley:

I would like to thank all of you that have both supported and voted for me in the past primary election. I will continue to work with our current and future Board of Trustees members in meeting the future needs and expectations of our residents to continue making White Lake Township the best place to live, work and play.

I am surprised that this election cycle has produced so many inaccurate, unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations regarding the election process that have been directed at the township Clerk’s Office. As your clerk before this election and now your re-elected clerk, I must say that I have no problem facing unfair criticism about myself; however, I will not tolerate the outright lies and unfounded innuendoes and accusations about our election process.

During the past year there have been many legislative changes concerning elections; most of them had to be implemented this election cycle. My staff has spent many hours preparing election materials and training over 80 local volunteers who actually conduct the election process. They have all taken the oath of office to support the constitution of the United Sates, and the constitution of this state, to faithfully discharge the duties of election inspector. Each precinct is manned with both Republican and Democratic representatives validating the completeness of their responsibility and they must all sign the appropriate paperwork to finish their work. While my staff is here at 5:30 a.m. on election morning, our poll workers start at 6 a.m. in order to have the polls open at 7 a.m. Polls close at 8 p.m. and the paperwork begins. Many do not return back to the township offices until 9:30 p.m. or so.

After our precinct captains return, each precinct goes through and processes their precinct information at the receiving board: One process to make sure all paperwork is complete, the other process is to separate the paperwork for the township clerk, Oakland County clerk and Oakland County canvassing board. At this point our 80-plus workers have been on the job for at least 16 hours, and most are tired and exhausted but have done an excellent job for the clerk.

As election night went on, people in the township hall were provided printed results of each of the 12 precincts as they came in. They were told specifically that those results did not include absentee votes. The paperwork never changed. There was a computer problem getting the absentee ballot votes to merge with the precinct votes, but only a computer problem. Our paperwork had to be complete and accurate before any further results could be given to the public and the candidates. When we were sure of the results, they were reported and those results have never changed. After finally delivering the results to the Oakland County Clerk’s Office, I arrived home at 3 a.m.

While I can stand the whining and sniffling of a few candidates, and/or their supporters, I will not tolerate the unfair criticism of any of my staff or our poll workers who depend on the White Lake Township Clerk’s Office to be fair, considerate, accountable and responsible for all elections. All of the candidate winners and non-winners spend a lot of time and money to represent their constituents; however, now the people have made their choices and it is time to move forward. It is time to continue making white Lake Township a great place to live, work and play.