SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Shelby Township Clerk Stanley Grot announced Tuesday night he will recuse himself from Election Day duties on August 4 because his wife is on the ballot in a state House race.
Sylvia Grot is running for a seat in the state House of Representatives in the same district where her husband oversees elections. Early voting is already underway.
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"I don't want to be involved; I don't want to be part of gossips or rumors that I'm there to fix elections, or do something inappropriate," Stanley Grot said.
Grot made the announcement publicly Tuesday night.
"I am formally announcing that I am recusing myself from Election Day duties," Grot said.
Grot said the decision was his own.
"I wasn't asked by anyone to do this, I thought this was the right thing to do," Grot said.
Sylvia Grot's opponent in the primary, Jean Zott, also said the recusal was the right move. In a statement, Zott said in part:
"A judge cannot preside over a case involving his or her spouse. Likewise an election clerk should not oversee an election in which his or her spouse is a candidate. This recusal should have occurred before absentee ballots were issued."
The recusal comes just a few years after Grot was stripped of his clerk duties after facing charges for allegedly acting as a fake elector in 2020 for President Donald Trump. Those charges were eventually dropped, and Grot has since been reinstated as election administrator.
Michael Traugott, director of the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, said the recusal is a necessary step.
"He's only been re-instated as election adminstrator, recently," Traugott said.
"And now especially since his wife is on the ballot, he wants to presumably remove any concerns on the tabulations of the votes," Traugott said.
A voter outside the clerk's office, who gave only her first name, Marge, said she supports the decision.
"Whatever he did in his past, for whatever reasons, is his business and he'll have to pay for that somewhere else down the road," Marge said.
"I believe that a man who recuses himself for the reasons he says is an honorable man," Marge said.
The recusal applies only to Election Day on Aug. 4. The township's deputy clerk will take over Election Day duties, and Grot said additional election observers will be brought in to ensure a fair election. Grot said what happens regarding any recusal in November depends on the outcome of his wife's race.
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