That national average for absentee ballots is 14 percent. The average percentage of absentee voters in Detroit constantly hovers above 30 percent, and it appears as though most of the ballots are filled out by election officials.

Among findings by [Detroit] News reporters were ballots cast by people registered to vote at abandoned and long-demolished buildings; a master voter list with 380,000 incorrect names and addresses -- including people who have died or moved out of the city; and a practice of hand-delivering ballots from senior citizens and disabled voters that were filled out in private meetings with Currie's paid election workers.

Recounts are also a big problem.

When two separate recounts were requested by losing City Council candidates, county canvassers deemed 40 of 107 precincts selected for recount couldn't be recounted due to irregularities such as broken ballot box seals and numbers of ballots not matching the number of votes recorded on election night...

Different witnesses in different lawsuits have testified that they've seen election workers filling out absentee ballots themselves after the polls had closed. Other findings included a fire that made a recount of ballots impossible, and incapacitated voters who have no knowledge of the Mayor and no memory of voting in any election.