Nearly a year after Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi won his race by just 11 votes, his victory may now be reversed and his seat handed to opponent Muhith Mahmood.
On Friday, after nearly a year of legal challenges, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers tabulated an additional 37 ballots in that race, which were discovered the day after the November 2025 Hamtramck mayoral election.
After counting the additional ballots, the totals flipped: the count now shows former councilmember Mahmood beating the sitting mayor by 12 votes.
When the board opened the floor for public comment after the tabulation, Mahmood took the opportunity to declare victory.
“I want to thank all those judges who did the proper judgement to bring these peoples’ rights to the table and get [their] vote counted,” Mahmood said. “It’s not about the winning and fighting about the win. It’s about the principle of the democracy of this country.”
But, at least for now, the Board of Canvassers will hold off on certifying Mahmood as the winner.
Alharbi has filed a legal case in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleging Mahmood does not meet the city’s residency requirement. Alhabi claims Mahmood lives in Troy, a claim Mahmood has denied.
Before the Board of Canvassers began ballot tabulation, Rebecca Camargo, an attorney for Wayne County, clarified that a judge had barred the board from certifying Mahmood as winner before a hearing is held in the residency case. The next hearing for that case is scheduled for October 22.
Another legal challenge may soon follow.
Alharbi, who also spoke during public comment, said he planned to challenge the legitimacy of the ballots. Alharbi alluded to previous criminal charges for election fraud in Hamtramck and said the way the ballots had been discovered opened concerns they had been tampered with.
“Election integrity in Hamtramck is not trusted,” he said. “Those ballots are not trusted.”
The 37 previously untabulated ballots were discovered by then-City Clerk Rana Faraj the day after the 2025 mayoral election.
According to court documents, a discrepancy between the number of absentee ballots returned and those that were counted led Faraj to review the absentee envelopes, which were stored in her office overnight.
Faraj discovered 37 envelopes that had been opened but whose ballots had not been tabulated.
At the time, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers declined to tabulate the ballots. According to Faraj, people who were not authorized election staff had entered her office while the opened envelopes were stored there, violating an elections integrity principle known as “chain of custody.”
Mahmood challenged the Board’s decision in late 2025, asking the Wayne County Circuit Court to order the ballots be counted. The circuit court denied his challenge, but Mahmood appealed and won, paving the way for a court ruling last month ordering the ballots be counted.
In its decision, the appeals court kept open the possibility that individual ballots, once counted, could still be contested under typical procedures for challenging improperly cast ballots.
Faraj was placed on leave soon after the 2025 election and was eventually removed as clerk. She has since sued for wrongful termination.
A recount completed in December 2025 certified Alharbi as the victor with 2,071 votes to Mahmood’s 2,060. This Friday’s count of the additional 37 ballots put Alharbi behind, with 2,077 votes to Mahmood’s new total of 2,089.
