After almost a year, there is a new top votegetter in the Hamtramck mayoral election of November 2025 after the Wayne County Board of Canvassers determined that former Councilman Muhith Mahmood garnered more votes than Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi.
In a methodical process that took about two hours, the four-member board, two Republicans and two Democrats, processed and tabulated 37 absentee ballots that were previously uncounted and fed them into an election machine on Friday, Oct. 16. The unofficial results showed that Mahmood won 29 of them, giving him enough votes to defeat Alharbi, who won last year by an 11-vote margin. Mahmood won with 2,089 votes, while Alharbi got 2,077, a 12-vote margin, said Richard Preuss, a Democrat who is chair of the Wayne
County Board of Canvassers.
The process appeared to go smoothly, with none of the board members objecting to the results or how the votes were counted. Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett was there observing the process along with several other election officials. Wayne County Director of Elections Greg Mahar helped the board through the process and explained to the audience what was happening as they opened the individual ballots and placed them in a machine.
After Preuss announced the results, applause and cheers broke out in the audience among supporters of Mahmood, a restaurant worker at MGM Grand Detroit Casino. The celebrations continued outside the Vigliotti Building in Detroit, where the counting of the 37 votes took place.
"We made it!" cried out supporters of Mahmood.
"Finally, Bangladeshi community" won the mayoral election, exclaimed a supporter of Mahmood, an immigrant from Bangladesh.
The results are still unofficial and not certified. Alharbi called for a recount and alleged there is voter fraud in the city. Alharbi and his attorney, Nabih Ayad, are calling upon Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to issue a warrant and act on a state investigation they said has found ballot harvesting and election fraud in the city. Nessel's office did not respond to messages this week from the Free Press seeking comment on whether they will press charges.
Alharbi and Ayad are also questioning the residency of Mahmood, claiming he doesn't live in the city, a claim Mahmood strongly denies. A hearing on that case is set for Oct. 22 in Wayne County.
If Mahmood is eventually certified as the winner, he would become the first mayor of Bangladeshi descent in the history of Michigan. Hamtramck has the highest percentage of immigrants among all cities in Michigan, with Bangladeshi Americans and Yemeni Americans making up the two largest ethnic groups, according to census data. All of the six members of the city council are Muslim immigrants, the only city in the U.S. with an all-Muslim council. Alharbi is an immigrant from Yemen and the second mayor of Yemeni descent, succeeding Amer Ghalib; Alharbi was Ghalib's campaign manager.
The counting of the 37 ballots, which were found after election day, was ordered on Sept. 30 by Wayne County Judge Kathleen McCarthy .
In her ruling, McCarthy "ordered the Board to not certify the new results until she has a hearing on the companion case regarding residency issues," Dorian Tyus, a spokesperson for Garrett, told the Detroit Free Press.
That hearing is set for Thursday, October 22.
Alharbi addressed the board after the count, saying that Hamtramck has voter fraud that needs to be investigated. He alleges there is ballot harvesting, where people are dropping off bunches of ballots at drop-off boxes. Alhabri questioned the validity of the ballots counted and their chain of custody, saying they were opened before being counted Friday.
"Thirty-seven of these votes that come in are all open" before they were tabulated, Ayad said. "Who the hell opens ... envelopes two days after they're found at the clerk's office not secure?"
"A recount needs to be done," Alhabri added.
Addressing the board, Mahmood thanked them and the judges who helped bring about the counting of the 37 votes.
"It's not about the winning," Mahmood said. "It's about the ... democracy of this country, voter rights."
Mahmood said he wants to focus on helping the city.
"Let's move forward for the city of Hamtramck," Mahmood said. "One Hamtramck for all."
Mahmood was represented by attorney Mark Brewer, a former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, who sat next to his client during the tabulation. A majority of observers attending appeared to be supporters of Mahmood. Mahmood endorsed Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and Alharbi supported Donald Trump, but mayoral and council elections in Hamtramck are nonpartisan.
Preuss said he and the board take their roles seriously.
"The rights of voters matter," Preuss said before the counting. The board will do this with the "seriousness, fairness and attention it deserves."
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo, or Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: After 37 votes counted, Hamtramck ex-councilman leads 2025 mayoral race
