Springfield Township Board says clerk can use local resources for election despite supervisor's opposition

The Springfield Township Board reaffirmed that the clerk may use the township's buildings for next week's election. The move came after Township Supervisor Richard Davis objected to the municipality using its own resources — which is standard practice — to run the election. 

The meeting was called in response to a lengthy email that Davis sent to Township Clerk Sean Miller. Davis, who was not present at Thursday's special meeting, outlined concerns about the township using its own resources to administer voting and said any requests need to go through him. 

"Ric Davis sent me an email written in large part with the assistance with ChatGPT, and I would point out that despite everything facing this township, Ric apparently found time to generate an extensive information request but not to attend the joint meeting," Miller said in the meeting.

"All requests involving employees, departments, equipment, facilities or other resources under my supervision must be coordinated through my office before commitments are made. This applies to election-related requests," Miller added.

If implemented, that would have been a major departure from how elections are typically run, and attendees said they felt it was an alarming move. 

"The fact that we even have to take time out of our day this close to an election to figure out are people going to be allowed to vote in a fair and balanced way is concerning," said Stacey McDuffie, who attended the meeting. 

The township board voted to reaffirm that the clerk has access to two of the township's fire stations and another municipal building to use as polling locations as usual. 

CBS News Detroit reached out to Davis on Thursday but did not hear back.