GREG PALAST: We went to speak with the secretary of state, whose spokesman said the missing votes in Detroit were simply people who waited in line but didn't want to vote for president.
FRED WOODHAMS: You know, I think when you look at the unfavorability ratings that were reported for both major-party candidates, it's probably not that surprising.
GREG PALAST: Back in Detroit, there was another explanation. Some of the votes missing resulted when 87 machines, responsible for counting thousands of ballots, broke down. Carlos Garcia is a media specialist at Michigan State University. He witnessed the breakdown.
CARLOS GARCIA: The start of polling at 7:00 a.m., the machine didn't work. And at 9:15 a.m., they brought in a replacement, and it was replaced by 9:30. The people that didn't wait, their ballots were in the bottom in the ballot box.
GREG PALAST: But they weren't scanned.
CARLOS GARCIA: And so, at the time when they started having anyone who was waiting scan their ballots, those ballots were not taken out of the machine. So, any new scanned ballots were falling in on top of the old ones.
GREG PALAST: They weren't counted. Activist Anita Belle.
ANITA BELLE: Only 50 ballots in the ballot box. Hot mess. Hot mess!
GREG PALAST: How did Detroit end up in a hot mess with these ballot-destroying machines? Republican state officials took direct control of the government's spending in Flint and Detroit. Result? Flint's water was poisoned, and the voting system of Detroit was poisoned, as well.
DR. JILL STEIN: Whereas if you're voting in a wealthy white suburban precinct, no sweat, your vote will be validated, you can have assurance and confidence in your vote. But if you're African-American, these questions cannot be asked.
GREG PALAST: And then there are voters who never got to vote in the first place.
DR. JILL STEIN: Whether it's because of the chaos in -- you know, some polling centers are closed, and then some are moved, and there's all kinds of mixups. So, a lot of people are filling out provisional ballots in the first place, or they were being tossed off the voter rolls by Interstate Crosscheck.
GREG PALAST: Crosscheck is a list that was created by Donald Trump's operative, Kris Kobach, to hunt down and imprison voters who illegally voted or registered in two states in one election.
FRED WOODHAMS: Michigan participates in the Interstate Crosscheck, like a number of other states, so we do match voters who may be registered in another state.
GREG PALAST: Do you know how many names are on it?
FRED WOODHAMS: There's a lot of names.
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