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Resident says he found ballots and personal data at recycling center; clerk says materials retrieved and will be shredded
Summary
A Livonia resident told council he found city documents and ballots at a recycling yard and alleged potential election-law violations; the city clerk said the materials were retrieved, identified as unused/unvoted ballots, and that the city will change practice to shred such materials going forward.
A Livonia resident told the city council he found stacks of city documents and election ballots scattered at Glendale Recycling and suggested state election law may have been violated. Alan Dix said he photographed records containing residents’ names, addresses and phone numbers and urged the city to investigate and consider creating departmental retention policies.
"State election law was violated," Dix told the council, saying he had collected the materials and feared the risk to residents’ personal information and to election integrity.
Clerk Miller responded that the materials were recovered from the dump, secured, and identified as unused, unvoted ballots that had been taken to precincts a week early by a former contractual worker. "They are unused, unvoted ballots," Miller said, adding that the city retrieved them and will secure them. She told the council the city will change its practice: "Moving forward, it has been decided we will always shred them. We will adhere to that retention schedule."
Miller also said the worker who transported the materials had been released for violating other election laws and described the episode as a "hiccup" from which the department had learned.
Dix had asked whether the city would self-report potential violations to the state bureau of elections; Miller did not commit to a particular external report in the meeting, but described the immediate remedial steps the city had taken to secure the materials and to alter disposal practices.
The exchange followed public comments in which Dix described the find and his concern about broader departmental document-handling practices. Council members acknowledged the seriousness of the complaint and asked Dix to follow up with city staff as requested; no formal vote on further action was taken at the meeting.
Next steps: Clerk Miller said the city already recovered the materials and will change procedures to shred unused ballots; city officials directed staff to follow up with any additional investigation or reporting requirements.
