Michigan Compiled Laws

Mich. Comp. Laws § 168.872 (2026)

Board of canvassers; fraud or violation of law suspected; referral for investigation to prosecuting attorney or attorney general.

✓ current as of July 2026

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MICHIGAN ELECTION LAW

Act 116 of 1954

168.872 Board of canvassers; fraud or violation of law suspected; referral for investigation to prosecuting attorney or attorney general.

Sec. 872.

(1) If a board of canvassers conducting a recount has good reason to believe that any fraud or a violation of the law has been committed in the canvass or return of the votes, then that board of canvassers shall, subject to subsection (2), refer any matter the board of canvassers believes warrants investigation to the following:

(a) For a recount conducted by a board of county canvassers, the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the board of county canvassers is appointed.

(b) For a recount conducted by the board of state canvassers, the attorney general.

(2) The board of state canvassers shall refer a matter for investigation to the attorney general as provided under subsection (1) only if at least 1 member of each political party appointed to the board of state canvassers concurs in the decision to refer the matter for investigation.

(3) Any action taken in an investigation by a prosecuting attorney or the attorney general does not preclude any official recount of the ballots cast at any election, if otherwise allowed by the general election laws.

History: 1954, Act 116, Eff. June 1, 1955 ;-- Am. 1965, Act 82, Imd. Eff. June 24, 1965 ;-- Am. 2024, Act 74, Eff. Apr. 2, 2025

PopularName Notes:

Election Code

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2022–2025 · leading case: Tom J Barrow v. Wayne Cnty. Bd. of Canvassers (Mich. Ct. App. 2022).

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Tom J Barrow v. Wayne Cnty. Bd. of Canvassers (Mich. Ct. App. 2022). · cites it 6× “And citing MCL 168.872,3 defendant opined that it 3 MCL 168.”

20250218_C370776_46_370776.Opn.Pdf (Mich. Ct. App. 2025). “MCL 168.872 provides that when it “shall appear to the board of canvassers having jurisdiction over said recount that there is probably cause to believe that there has been fraud, wrongdoing or a violation of the law in respect to said election .”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.