KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Questions about Sharpies being used to fill out ballots for Tuesday's presidential election have been popping up on social media and even called into the Kent County Clerk's office.
Wednesday afternoon as votes were still be counted, clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons clarified on Twitter saying, "Sharpies are the preferred device of our election equipment vendor. Black or blue pen also acceptable for proper tabulating. Bleed through is not a concern as ballots are programmed to ignore bleed."
Lyons also said on Twitter that every legally cast ballot in in Kent County would be counted. The Director of Media Relations for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson also confirmed that blue and black Sharpies work and votes will be counted.
As of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Kent County had 84% of precincts were reporting with 153,733 (51.0 %) votes for President Donald Trump and 141,504 (46.95%) votes for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
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