02/14/2007

Township clerk gets scolded

He improperly changed polling place in Nov.

By CRAIG McCOOL

cmccool@record-eagle.com

MANCELONA — Antrim County's prosecutor chastised, but will not charge, a township official who improperly changed a polling place for last November's general elections.

Prosecutor Charles Koop wrote in a letter to Mancelona Township officials that the polling place incident, taken with prior elections gaffes, "raises serious questions as to whether (Township Clerk Maurice) McGleish understands or appreciates the importance of performing his duties.”

Koop ruled the clerk's actions were inept, but not criminal.

"General oversight or ineptness in performance … does not rise to the level of a willful violation of the Elections Act,” Koop wrote in a Feb. 6 letter to McGleish and Township Supervisor Gerald Patrick.

"My only ability is to charge criminally. I couldn't show any willfulness” that McGleish intended to break the law, Koop said. "Nor do I really believe it affected the election.”

Two telephone messages left with McGleish's township office Tuesday were not returned, nor was a message left with the supervisor. McGleish was appointed to fill a vacancy in the clerk's office in 2001 and was elected to the post in 2002.

Township records show McGleish earned $16,826 in 2006, up from $16,480 the previous year.

Koop ordered a Michigan State Police investigation after hearing from multiple voters who on Nov. 7 found the longtime township polling place empty. It had moved to a new township building down the street.

The police report found McGleish erred by not having the township board approve the new polling place. It also noted two previous election bungles — handing out the wrong candidate nomination petitions in 2004 and not getting ballots to the polls on time in a 2005 school election.

"Of concern to this writer, and should be to the township board, is that the current error is the latest in a series of errors by Clerk McGleish,” wrote Koop, who forwarded the matter to state elections officials.

"They have administrative things that they can do,” he said. "The state has the ability to take control” of future elections.

Koop's letter urged township officials to consider "taking proactive steps — and not waiting for others to do so — in assisting McGleish in obtaining what appears to be much-needed additional training.”