In November 2025, Adam Alharbi was elected the mayor of Hamtramck by just 11 votes, defeating then councilman Muhith Mahmood.
But Mahmood contends that 37 votes were never counted due to tabulation mistakes, filing a lawsuita few weeks after the election against the city and the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. The following month, December 2025, the chief judge of Wayne County Circuit Court ruled against Mahmood, but an appeals court in March disagreed, sending the case back to Wayne County.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, another Wayne County judge, Kathleen McCarthy, ordered Wayne County to count the votes by Oct. 16, Friday.
That means there's a chance Mahmood, a restaurant worker at MGM Grand Detroit Casino, could win the election and became mayor,
replacing Alharbi, who's served since January after he was sworn in.
“My client is pleased that the constitutional right to vote of these 37 voters will be enforced," Mahmood's attorney, Mark Brewer, told the Detroit Free Press. "No voter should ever be disenfranchised due to the mistakes of election officials."
It's unclear when the 37 votes will be counted. A spokesperson for the Wayne County Clerk's office did not return an email Monday, Oct. 4, seeking information. Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chair Richard Preuss, Vice Chair Lisa Capatina, and Hamtramck Clerk Sami Elhady also did not return emails Monday seeking details about the vote count.
Brewer said "the board is working on setting up that public meeting" for the counting of the 37 votes.
An attorney for Alharbi, Nabih Ayad, has maintained that Mahmood did not live in Hamtramck and so is therefore not eligible to be mayor. Last year in 2025, State Police opened an investigation into whether Mahmood and another councilman lived outside Hamtramck, allegations they have denied. Hamtramck requires political candidates to be a "bonafide resident" of the city.
Ayad told the Free Press that even after the counting of the 37 votes by Oct. 16, a court needs to decide on the residency issue. Votes "will not be certified by the board of canvassers until further order of the court to address his residency issues if he indeed lives in Hamtramck," he said.
"Judge McCarthy was entering an order of what the Michigan court of appeals had ordered months back," Ayad explained. "We feel the order to count the 37 votes does not mean for the board of canvassers to disregard their duties under Michigan election laws and forego challenges from either side of those 37 votes. So in short, one can still challenge for cause the 37 votes, but they do need to be counted."
Wayne County Chief Judge Patricia Perez Fresard on Nov. 14, 2025, denied a request by Alharbi, filed by Ayad, to disqualify Mahmood over residency.
Brewer and Ayad said they don't know the exact day the vote count will take place. Ayad said he has contacted the county's corporation counsel seeking the date.
The race for mayor is nonpartisan. Mahmood is a Democrat who supported Kamala Harris for president, while Alharbi supported Donald Trump and has engaged with Republicans. Alharbi was previously the campaign manager for Amer Ghalib, a Trump supporter and the previous mayor of Hamtramck. Ghalib is currently the senior advisor for strategic partnerships at AmeriCorps, a federal agency that promotes volunteer work, after his nomination by Trump to be ambassador to Kuwait faced opposition.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge orders Wayne County to count 37 votes in Hamtramck mayoral race
