Madison Heights Recount Confirms Three Vote Victory for Kymm Clark
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 8, 2019)
Madison Heights, MI – Newly elected councilperson Kymm Clark had a sigh of relief after a recount was held in the Madison Heights election.
There were three seats on City Council included in the Nov. 5 election, and five candidates. Incumbent Bob Gettings came in fourth place, losing his seat by only three votes to Clark.
Emily Rohrback had the most votes at 3009.  Incumbent Robert Corbett was re-elected with 2842 votes.  Clark had 2317 and Gettings had 2314.  Also not making it was Sean Flemming with 1437 votes.
Oakland County Elections Director Joe Rozzell confirmed with Oakland County Times that a recount was requested, noting that it took place Nov. 26.  “The original petition only requested and paid the necessary fee to recount the absentee ballots.  However, another candidate filed a petition and paid the fee to also recount the precinct ballots.  Any balance due for the cost of the recount will be billed to the City of Madison Heights,” Rozzell said.  Gettings requested the original recount, and Clark put in for the remainder.
No other recounts were requested anywhere in Oakland County and the deadline has passed. The recount took approximately two hours, and was done at a cost of under $100 to the City of Madison Heights. The originally reported numbers were confirmed to be correct.  “This validates how accurate our new voting equipment is,” the Director said.
Clark was understandably happy to get the results. She’s already diving into her new position.  When asked how it’s been going so far, Clark said. “It is going really well! My first action was to nominate Roslynn Grafstein for Pro Tem, she won the vote 6-1. I am making plans with Brian [Hartwell, the Mayor] to put together some small business events that will educate entrepreneurs about how to get off the ground and market themselves, as well as put building owners and potential start-ups in the same room. I also became a member of the Elections Commission, and Historical Society, as well as maintained a spot on the Arts Board. I have a ton of ideas for the library and historical commission I can’t wait to run by them.”
Clark shared live video of the recount process as it happened. Gettings was not in attendance, which was optional but not required.
For more local news visit the Madison Heights News Page. Sign up for daily headlines here.