Auto workers likely to approve direct election of leadership

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — Members of the United Auto Workers union apparently will approve picking their leaders in direct elections. With 72% of the ballots counted, nearly 63% favor direct elections. About 37% want to keep the current system of delegates selecting the union’s leadership. A federal court-appointed monitor who is conducting the election says on his website that the number of ballots supporting direct voting crossed a threshold indicating that it will win. Direct voting received 65,136 votes to 38,503 for the delegates. The website says the results are unofficial and the full count likely won’t be done until Thursday. Just over 143,000 ballots were received by Monday’s mail-in deadline.