The Hamtramck city clerk who reported election fraud in the 2023 City Council election and in whose office unopened ballots for last year’s close mayoral election were found has been fired, city officials confirmed.
Former City Clark Rana Faraj was fired because of “the discovery of partisan punching bags featuring candidates’ faces inside the Clerk’s office — a gross violation of the non-partisan neutrality required by law,” Mayor Adam Alharbi said in a Tuesday email.
Faraj had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 10, according to a lawsuit she filed against the city in early December. Alharbi said in a Monday text that Faraj’s employment had been “on hold for legal reasons because of her lawsuit,” and that insurance attorneys recently told city officials they could proceed with dismissing her.
The move came about four months after Faraj was placed on leave amid a controversy over the discovery of uncounted ballots in her office that could have swayed the 2025 mayoral election. Faraj and city officials have not explained how uncounted ballots wound up in the Clerk’s Office.
She was fired “due to misconduct, bad behavior, election interference, and lack (of) understanding,” said council member Nayeem Choudhury, who was elected in November and was one of six suspects investigated by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office over election fraud allegations but was not charged by a special prosecutor.
“She was not a good person as she should be as human being,” Choudhury said in an email. “Job is not authoritarian, should be respected, due diligence and integrity.”
Farah’s firing follows forced exit of city manager
Former City Manager Max Garbarino also was fired last year by the City Council amid the election fraud investigation and has a whistleblower lawsuit pending in Wayne County Circuit Court.
A phone number listed for Faraj appears to have been disconnected. She did not respond to messages on social media seeking comment.
“This is another predictable example of Hamtramck retaliating with a city council and administration that has gone completely amok,” Faraj’s attorney, Jon Marko, said in a Monday email. “We are moving forward with our lawsuit to seek justice for Rana and the people of Hamtramck.”
Suspension followed uncounted absentee ballots mishap
Faraj was placed on leave soon after an election mishap that may have cost former City Council member Muhith Mahmood the mayorship.
Alharbi won the election by 11 votes according to Nov. 4 election night results, as well as a Dec. 2 hand recount.
However, two days after the election, a Clerk’s Office worker found 37 uncounted ballots in Faraj’s office. Faraj reported the issue to Wayne County officials. Following a two-day meeting, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers ultimately deadlocked on whether to count the misplaced ballots, effectively rejecting them.
Between Nov. 5 and 6, five non-election personnel had entered the Clerk’s Office before the ballots were found, breaking the chain of custody, Faraj’s lawsuit said.
Mahmood is suing Alharbi, the city of Hamtramck and the Wayne County Board of Canvassers in an effort to have the ballots counted. He said 37 Hamtramck voters have been disenfranchised and that state law specifies that votes cannot be disqualified based on a mistake by an election official.
Mahmood’s attorney, Mark Brewer, said they are awaiting a decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals on the case.
Faraj claims retaliation for suspension
In her lawsuit, Faraj alleged she was put on leave as retaliation after she filed a formal written complaint with Nessel’s office in March 2025. She reported ballot-harvesting activity, intimidation of election workers and unlawful interference with election administration, her attorney said in December.
In her letter to Nessel, Faraj said she had presented the Attorney General’s Office with “numerous reports and evidence” of absentee ballot fraud during the 2023 Hamtramck City Council election.
The following month, Nessel’s office requested a special prosecutor to explore allegations that council members Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan conspired with other people to receive unvoted absentee ballots that had been signed by recently naturalized citizens, then filled in the ballots with the candidates of their choosing.
Sadman pleaded guilty in February to a reduced charge of disorderly person loitering about an illegal business, according to Hamtramck District Court records. He was originally charged with making a false statement in an application for an absentee ballot.
Hassan is charged with forging a signature on an absentee ballot application and election law forgery and making a false statement in an application for an absentee ballot. He has a pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday and a trial slated to begin in April.
The city is in the midst of posting the city clerk opening and seeking candidates, Alharbi said. Administrative officer Omar Thabet, who had been completing the clerk’s duties in Faraj’s absence, is being hired as the city’s media director.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
@max_detroitnews
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hamtramck clerk fired for ‘partian punching bags’ in office, mayor says
Reporting by Max Reinhart, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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