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The Wayne Coun­ty Board of Can­vassers dead­locked 2–2 Tues­day along par­ty lines on whether the coun­ty’s Nov. 3 elec­tion results should be cer­ti­fied, delay­ing the con­clu­sion of Michi­gan’s can­vass­ing process as at least four state and fed­er­al law­suits seek to do the same.

The deci­sion was laud­ed by Repub­li­cans but decried by Democ­rats. Dur­ing a pub­lic com­ment ses­sion, the vote was described as a tar­get­ed attack on major­i­ty-Black Detroit.

The deci­sion came after absen­tee bal­lot poll books at 70% of Detroit’s 134 absen­tee count­ing boards were found to be out of bal­ance with­out expla­na­tion. The mis­match­es var­ied any­where from one to more than four votes.