Trump Wins Michigan by 10,704 Votes; Closest Race in Great Lake History

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016, in Sterling Heights, Mich. (Photo: AP)

In the closest race ever in Great Lake State history, the Michigan Secretary of State gave President-elect Donald Trump a 10,704 vote win over Hillary Clinton. The call comes after the state’s 83 county clerks on Tuesday submitted, posted and certified voting results by each county.

While People’s Pundit Daily called it more than a week ago, the official results from the state were still in flux though the secretary said they did not expect the certification to change the outcome. The addition of Michigan, one of three Rust Belt states in the so-called Blue Wall to fall to the New York businessman on Election Day, gives the winner 306 Electoral Votes.

President-elect Trump’s lead was a 13,107 lead over Mrs. Clinton after the votes were counted on election night, but after each county certified its results, the lead shrunk to 10,704. Nearly all of the additional votes for Mrs. Clinton came from Wayne, the most populous county in the state and one of only 8 that voted for her over Mr. Trump. It showed that Clinton had gotten 565 more votes than originally tallied by the county.

The state’s Board of Canvassers will officially certify the results on November 28 and the electoral college in all the states will cast their votes on December 19.

“Many people have asked about Michigan’s process for counting ballots and certifying election results. Please be aware that all 1,521 Michigan cities and townships completed ballot counting and reported unofficial results by the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 9,” a statement by the Secretary of State’s office said. “The county canvassing boards, as they do after every election, then began their work to review and certify the results from each precinct.”

As People’s Pundit Daily previously explained, most now-largely discredited pundits are blaming low turnout for The Great Lakes State going Red for the first time since 1988. But dig a bit deeper and that explanation doesn’t really suffice.

“In Michigan, Mr. Trump carried 12 counties that voted to reelect Mr. Obama in 2012, including Monroe, Bay, Eaton, Saginaw and Macomb,” The People’s Pundit, Richard Baris pointed out. “In Macomb County, voter turnout actually increased 4% juxtaposed to the 1.1% increase statewide from 4 years ago.”

Mrs. Clinton won only 8 counties, including Genesee, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Muskegon, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne. In the Democratic stronghold of Wayne, which gave Mrs. Clinton a 289,000-vote lead, Mr. Trump was able to hold down the Democratic margin as he ran up record spreads in rural counties.

The Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state received 78,884 fewer votes than President Barack Obama and roughly 53,000 fewer votes than John Kerry in 2004. Mr. Trump got 14,449 more votes than Gov. Mitt Romney did in 2012.

“At first glance it would appear the next Democratic candidate could overcome Mr. Trump’s margins in the rest of the state if they perform at historical levels in Wayne County,” Baris added. “Mr. Trump only carried the state by roughly 10,000 votes. But that conclusion foolishly assumes the working class and suburban votes the winner left on the table do not vote in 2020 and, as I always stress, political coalitions do not evolve in a vacuum.”

“We’ll have to watch new registrations and party preference changes closely over the next 4 years.”

The vote totals to be submitted to the state Canvassers Board on November 28 are in the table below.