One more ballot found from Hamtramck's 2025 November election, clerk says
One more ballot has been found from last November's election in Hamtramck, Michigan, that included races for the city's mayor and council seats.
This is the latest development over a series of complications involving the 2025 mayor's race in the Wayne County community. Adam Alharbi was eventually declared the winner and sworn in as mayor on Jan. 4.
"I can confirm that a ballot from the November 4, 2025, General Election was discovered in the City Clerk's Office. The ballot has been secured, and the matter has been referred to the appropriate election authorities," Sami Elhady, who became the city clerk on April 22, told CBS News Detroit on Friday.
Elhady said the ballot was found in the clerk's office, secured in an evidence bag.
Rana Faraj was the city's clerk when the November 2025 mayoral election took place. She was fired on March 10 following what city leaders called "the discovery of partisan punching bags featuring candidates' faces inside the Clerk's office," an activity that violates Michigan state law requiring nonpartisan neutrality in city offices.
The mayor's race was a tight one between Alharbi and city councilman Muhith Mahmood.
An official certification of the votes two weeks after election day indicated Alharbi had six votes over Mahmood. A later hand recount by the Wayne County Board of Canvassers determined that Alharbi won by 11 votes over Mahmood, with election results reported as 2,071 for Alharbi and 2,060 for Mahmood.
Complicating matters was the discovery of 37 absentee ballots at the city clerk's office one day after the November election.
The Board of Canvassers decided not to count the absentee ballots in question, as the then-city clerk had noticed a break in the chain of custody.
The resulting lawsuit was presented to the Michigan Supreme Court. But the justices declined to hear arguments on the case, and instead insisted on an expedited decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals.
The appellate court ruled in March that 37 absentee ballots that were considered uncounted must be reviewed and included.
The case was remanded to the trial court "for proceedings consistent with this opinion."
The above video originally aired on March 27, 2026.
