UAW presidential election vote count not expected to resume until late next week

Determining who will win the presidency in the UAW’s runoff election will take at least another week.

The independent UAW monitor’s office said it expects to reconvene March 16 to resume the vote count, which was paused over the weekend, at a location to be determined in metro Detroit.

When the count was paused, challenger Shawn Fain was leading incumbent Ray Curry, 69,118 to 68,473, which is a difference of 645 votes, according to unofficial results from the monitor’s office.

However, the number of challenged ballots outstanding, reported by Fain’s campaign to be 1,608 ballots, is large enough that either candidate could still win.

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The reason for the delay in resuming the count? Clearing ballots for eligibility — making sure that the voter was in good standing with the union by the deadline as required, for instance — is said to be a lengthy process.

“Given the time-consuming nature of collecting information to resolve questions as to the eligibility status of the individuals who voted the challenged ballots, the monitor has determined that the vote count will not reconvene on March 9, 2023, as originally contemplated. Instead, the monitor, UAW, and election vendor will continue the information gathering process until a sufficient number of challenged ballots have been resolved,” according to a statement posted by the monitor’s office.

“In light of the remaining work, we now expect to reconvene the vote count with observers present on Thursday, March 16, 2023, at a place to be determined in the Detroit metropolitan area.”