Michigan: A contentious race to be a tiny Antrim County’s top election official | Patrick Marley/The Washington Post

Sheryl Guy planned to oversee one last presidential election, and she hoped it would go more smoothly than last time. In 2020, the clerk in northern Michigan’s sparsely populated Antrim County initially misreported that Joe Biden won the heavily Republican area. Within days she corrected the tabulations with the accurate vote totals, but the error still provided fodder for far-fetched theories that spread across the country as Donald Trump falsely claimed he had won. Guy, 63, has weathered vilification, lawsuits and death threats. She was looking forward to retirement after the election this fall — until she realized who might take her job. Winning a five-way Republican primary for county clerk last month was Victoria Bishop, who promised to shake up the office, hand-count ballots and scrub people from the voter rolls. With no Democrat running, Bishop was all but assured of winning in November. This gnawed at Guy, who recently left the Republican Party and views Bishop’s pledges as signals that she will entertain the kinds of baseless claims that thrust the county into national headlines in 2020 and eroded public trust in elections. She decided to launch a write-in campaign to try to keep her job. Read Article

Michigan charts ‘proactive, preemptive’ plan to curb election challenges in 2024 | Sam Brodey/Boston Globe

Four years ago in Detroit, two Republican members of the normally low-profile Wayne County Board of Canvassers did something unprecedented: They declined to certify the results of the 2020 general election. Citing unfounded claims of voter fraud, the officials on the board disregarded their longstanding role to validate election results, as required by law, after recording the vote tally. In one swoop, they threw the entire state’s result into question, garnering national coverage and public outcry in the process. While the chaos they caused was brief — despite pressure from then-president Trump, the officials relented after two hours and voted to certify Wayne County’s results — the impact of the episode reverberated long afterward Anticipating fresh challenges this November, election officials in Michigan have undertaken the most aggressive effort among battleground states to ensure that the vulnerability exposed in Wayne County in 2020 will be difficult to exploit in 2024. Read Article

A Michigan canvasser said he might not certify the election. Now the ACLU is suing him. | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is suing a member of the Kalamazoo County Board of Canvassers, hoping a judge will declare that the man must certify the November election results, after a newspaper reported him saying that he might not. The suit is part of a growing legal effort around the country to ensure that the November election is certified on time by making it clear to any potentially defiant officials that they’re not allowed to refuse to certify, and that they could face charges or penalties if they do. The ACLU suit follows a Detroit News report that Robert Froman, a 73-year-old Republican canvasser in Kalamazoo County, said he would not certify the 2024 presidential election if it went the same way as the 2020 election, which he believed was stolen from former President Donald Trump. Read Article

Michigan: In small towns, even GOP clerks are targets of election conspiracies | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

Deep in the thumb of Michigan’s mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula, Republican election officials are outcasts in their rural communities. Michigan cities already were familiar with the consequences of election conspiracy theories. In 2020, Republicans flooded Detroit’s ballot counting center looking for fraud. Democratic and Republican election officials faced an onslaught of threats. And conservative activists attempted to tamper with election equipment. But the clerks who serve tiny conservative townships around Lake Huron never thought the hatred would be directed toward them. “I’m telling you — I’ve heard about everything I could hear,” said Theresa Mazure, the clerk for the 700 residents of Hume Township in Huron County. “I just shake my head. And when you try to explain, all I hear is, ‘Well, that’s just the Democrats talking.’ No, it’s the democratic process.” Read Article

Michigan: Big wins for GOP candidates who spread election falsehoods | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

A self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriff,” a township clerk facing felony charges, and a county clerk candidate who wants to “hand count every ballot cast at the end of each voting day” sailed through their Republican primaries Tuesday, earning themselves spots on November’s ballot and likely victory. The results are a sign that many local voters in more conservative areas of Michigan don’t consider it disqualifying for local elected officials to spread conspiracy theories or interfere with elections to advance the narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump. In Barry County, north of Kalamazoo, incumbent Sheriff Dar Leaf handily beat three GOP challengers. In Macomb County, Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot did the same. Victoria Bishop, a clerk candidate in Antrim County, claimed victory in a five-way GOP race with about 37% of the vote. Read Article

Michigan: Power outages and humid ink barely mar a smooth day of voting in low turnout primary | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

Even after nine days of early voting and 40 days to return absentee ballots, Michigan’s August primary appeared to be a relatively low turnout election. Officials said the majority of voters had already cast their ballots before election day on Tuesday. As of Monday, more than 1 million people across the state had voted, the vast majority of them doing so absentee. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday night that she expected totals to be near 2 million, which would be less than a quarter of the state’s total registered voters. In 2022, there were more than 2.1 million votes cast in Michigan’s August primary. Four years ago, there were more than 2.5 million votes cast. Read Article

Michigan faces a shortage of local clerk candidates, raising alarms about how elections will be run | Jon King/Michigan Advance

They are the administrators of democracy, making sure that elections are free, fair and efficient. They maintain the records of local government and are responsible for public access to those records, including births, deaths and the marriages in between.  And yet, nearly 10% of the 1,240 township clerk positions that are up for election this year in Michigan have no candidates willing to step up and fill them. That’s according to Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist, who also serves as second vice president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks (MAMC). In a social media post this month, Siegrist pointed to the situation as one that’s not been experienced before. “What if I told you that 118 townships have nobody running for Clerk this year. We’ve never seen anything like this in history. 9.5% of all clerk races this year will have NOBODY elected,” he said, before posing a series of questions. “Why doesn’t anyone want to do this job? How does a state deal with such a massive labor shortage? Who will run elections in these communities?” Read Article

Michigan has fix in place after brief outage in early-voter check-in system | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

An overloaded server briefly brought Michigan’s voter check-in system to a crawl Saturday morning, a hiccup on the first day of early in-person voting in the state primary that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says she is “confident” won’t happen again. The error was the result of other applications running on the same server that also hosted the state’s electronic poll books, Benson said during a news conference Monday. When voting started, those hundreds of poll book connections plus those other applications “caused a spike in activity” that tied up the servers and forced clerks around the state to temporarily switch to paper voter records. The Secretary of State’s Office worked with the Department of Technology, Management and Budget to discuss a solution that prioritizes early voting over other applications and protects access to the servers, Benson said. Read Article

Michigan: Trump campaign sues Gretchen Whitmer to block veteran voter registration sites | Griffin Eckstein/Salon

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has filed a lawsuit against Michigan officials, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to block a directive to designate Veterans Affairs offices and other public facilities as voter registration sites. Per the lawsuit, filed Monday, the Trump campaign seeks a “permanent injunction barring the state … from designating any VRAs [voter registration agencies] without express authorization from the Michigan Legislature.” The directive — which would have instituted registration offices in Michigan Veterans Affairs, Worker’s Disability Compensation Agency and U.S. Small Business Administration offices — would have enabled Michiganders to check, update, and join the voter rolls more easily. Read Article

Michigan judge calls off hearing on alleged voter data breach to allow for appeal | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

A Hillsdale County judge suddenly called off a preliminary examination scheduled for Thursday morning to allow a former township clerk and lawyer, facing felony charges over an alleged voter data breach, to fight the allegations in a higher court. After district court Judge Megan Stiverson announced her decision, Richard Cunningham, the prosecutor in the cases for the Michigan Attorney General’s office, could be heard telling others in the courtroom that he was “shocked.” Two days earlier on Tuesday, Stiverson rejected a motion to immediately dismiss the charges from Dan Hartman, the attorney who’s representing former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and Stefanie Lambert, a lawyer involved in efforts to advance unproven election fraud claims in multiple battleground states. In her ruling, Stiverson specifically said the preliminary examination to decide whether the charges should proceed to trial would go forward “as scheduled” Thursday. However, at the start of the hearing, Hartman revealed that he wanted to challenge Stiverson’s Tuesday order in Hillsdale County Circuit Court. Read Article

Michigan: What cost comparisons show about  early in-person voting models | Tom Perkins/Votebeat

The city of Ann Arbor recorded one of the state’s highest rates of early in-person voting in the February primary, and a Votebeat analysis shows it also succeeded in another important measure: It kept the cost per vote low. Ann Arbor spent about $19 per early in-person vote, among the lowest of dozens of municipalities included in the analysis, which gauged only recurring costs like labor. In Lansing, a city similar in size to Ann Arbor, the cost per vote was triple — around $58 — and the turnout rate much lower. Meanwhile, in sparsely populated Ontonagon County in the Upper Peninsula, municipal election officials banded together under a countywide plan. Ontonagon County spent about $63 per vote, though that cost was spread among a dozen municipalities. Read Article

Michigan Supreme Court weighs legality of Secretary of State’s guidance on election challengers | Beth LeBlanc/The Detroit News

Michigan Supreme Court justices will decide in the coming weeks whether guidelines issued by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to govern the handling of challengers at polling places can withstand the scrutiny of Republican opponents. Justices heard about an hour of argument Tuesday over Zoom on a case that challenges a manual issued by Benson to clerks in 2022 that set out instructions for election challengers, including a uniform credential form for challengers, limits on when their challenges should be recorded and bans on electronic device possession in closed-door absentee voting counting rooms while polling precincts are open. Several election challengers and the state and national Republican parties filed suit soon after the guidelines were issued, arguing they conflict with state election law and constituted rules that should have gone through the rulemaking process. Read Article

Michigan Judge Largely Denies RNC’s Challenge To Absentee Ballot Signature Matching Rules | Rachel Selzer/Democracy Docket

A Michigan judge today largely rejected the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) bid to tighten the state’s instructions for verifying signatures on absentee ballot applications and return envelopes ahead of the 2024 election. As a result of today’s ruling, election officials in the consequential battleground state may continue to apply most of the current signature matching rules promulgated by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D). Election officials cannot, however, utilize a slightly more lenient standard contained in the state’s guidance — known as a “presumption of validity” — when verifying signatures, the judge concluded. Read Article

Michigan clerks hit with ‘new reality’ as activists seek voting records in lawsuits | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Activists, pursuing unproven, yet lingering claims that something is fundamentally wrong with Michigan’s election system, are turning to the courts in the battleground state to try to get access to voting records. At least 18 clerks or local officeholders, across two counties, have been sued over the past year for rejecting Freedom of Information Act requests from people seeking data on voters. In rural Barry County, Irving Township Deputy Clerk Shelly Lake sued clerks from three other townships after trying to obtain past qualified voter lists, according to court records. In Macomb County, Michigan’s third-most populous county, Michael Butz, a 60-year-old retiree from Bruce Township, sued 15 clerks or local officials after asking for data from electronic poll books, which account for eligible voters and their assigned ballots for specific elections in specific precincts. Read Article

Michigan: ‘There’s no fraud here’: how a Republican official is addressing election denialism in his rural county | Alice Herman/The Guardian

Abe Dane would be the first to admit he had concerns about election fraud during the 2020 election. He believed the elections in his own county, where he had worked the polls, were clean – but he wasn’t sure about other counties in the state, where unfounded claims of fraud swirled in 2020. That was before he took a position in local election administration. Now, with first-hand experience, Dane, the director of elections in Hillsdale County, Michigan, is confident in the process. It’s convincing others that’s the challenge now. Read Article

Michigan: Election officials grapple with sweeping voting changes and a presidential election | Fredreka Schouten/CNN

This year, voting will be far easier for Michigan residents – thanks to new laws that establish early voting, automatically send out absentee ballots to voters who requested them and mandate that every community has least one drop box in which to return those ballots. But the changes have made running elections in this crucial presidential battleground much harder – leading some to worry about burnout among the state’s more than 1,500 local clerks, who must juggle increasingly complex election responsibilities with other duties, ranging from town record-keeping to licensing pets. “We just put a Ferrari engine inside a Model T car,” Michael Siegrist, the clerk of Canton Township, said of the sweeping effort to modernize elections in a state that still conducts balloting under a decades-old, hyperlocal system. Read Article

Michigan House panel weighs bills reforming election recounts | Katie O’Brien Kelley/Michigan Advance

The Michigan House Elections Committee heard testimony on Tuesday about Senate Bills 603 and 604, which would modify the recount process, filing fees for recounting and sentencing guidelines for certain Michigan election law violations that deal with recounts. Senate Bill 603 would allow recounts of precincts that have a mismatch between the number of ballots and the ballots issued to voters recorded in a polling place’s log or the ballots that were tabulated. “Under this bill, in cases where the number of ballots issued as shown in the poll book, the number of ballots tabulated as shown on the tabulator tape, or the number of ballots cast as shown by the county canvas are out of balance — but are out of balance at the same or fewer at the time of the recount — under my bill, the precincts can now be recounted as long as there is a satisfactory explanation and a sworn affidavit in a form prescribed by the Secretary of State,” said state Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), sponsor of the bill. Read Article

Former township clerk and lawyer in Michigan face charges over voter data breach | Megan Lebowitz and Gary Grumbach/NBC

A former township clerk and her attorney will face charges in Michigan over allegations of a voter data breach related to the 2020 election, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday. Former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and her private attorney, Stefanie Lambert, allowed “an unauthorized computer examiner access to voter data, including non-public voter information, concerning the 2020 General Election,” Nessel’s office alleged in a news release. Scott faces six charges — five felonies and a misdemeanor — including concealing or withholding a voting machine and using a computer to commit a crime. Lambert faces three felony charges, including using a computer to commit a crime. It is unclear how they pleaded. Read Article

Michigan: Democrats contend GOP is using  lawsuits to sow election doubts | Craig Mauger The Detroit News

The Democratic National Committee submitted briefs Monday against two election lawsuits brought by Republicans in Michigan courts, arguing the GOP was attempting to “undermine faith in our electoral system.” The filings spotlighted Michigan as a crucial battleground state, six months before the November election, and also highlighted the significant role judges will likely play this year, amid a heightened focus on the policies and personnel guiding voting across the nation. Read Article

Michigan bills to overhaul election recount law pass Senate | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

Recounts of Michigan ballot proposals in 2022 did not include a review of enough votes to change any election outcomes. But they left taxpayers with a hefty bill and election officials clamoring for changes to the law. Bills passed by Democrats in the state Senate Tuesday would require recount requests to petition for a review of a greater number of votes than the margin by which a candidate or ballot proposal lost. The legislation would also increase the upfront payment aggrieved candidates and ballot question committees must make and ease the restrictions that have excluded a significant number of votes from past recounts. The legislation next heads to the state House for consideration. Read Article

Michigan:Trump and multiple Republicans named ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ in fake electors case | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Testimony from an investigator for Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office revealed that former President Donald Trump, along with his aides Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, are considered unindicted co-conspirators in Michigan’s false elector case. This came to light during preliminary examinations where Nessel’s office is pursuing felony charges against 16 Republican activists who signed a certificate falsely claiming Trump won Michigan’s 2020 election. The effort, also mirrored in Arizona, aimed to bolster claims of election fraud. While defense lawyers argue their clients were unaware of the implications of signing the certificate, prosecutors maintain it was part of a larger multi-state criminal conspiracy linked to Trump’s campaign. Read Article

Michigan: Pushing election fraud theories, nonprofit spent $1.2 million in 2022 | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

The America Project, a national nonprofit led by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, disclosed in a recently filed tax document that it allocated $1.2 million in funding to lawyers and groups in Michigan during the 2022 election year. Among the beneficiaries were the law office of Stefanie Lambert, who faces felony charges related to the 2020 election, and a Waterford Township organization linked to Lambert. The filing, which didn’t provide detailed information on expenditures, raised concerns about efforts to perpetuate conspiracy theories regarding voter fraud, particularly in battleground states like Michigan. Despite bipartisan agreement within the State Board of Elections that the claims were baseless, the disclosure highlighted significant financial backing for initiatives challenging the integrity of the electoral process, even as claims of fraud remain unsubstantiated. Read Article

Michigan: Pro-Trump attorney Stefanie Lambert arrested after hearing over leaking Dominion documents | Joey Cappelletti/Associated Press

Attorney Stefanie Lambert was arrested by U.S. Marshals following a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., where she faced possible sanctions for disseminating confidential emails from Dominion Voting Systems, obtained while representing Patrick Byrne. Lambert is also facing criminal charges in Michigan for illegally accessing voting machines after the 2020 election. The arrest came after Lambert acknowledged passing Dominion documents to law enforcement and attached some leaked emails to a filing in her Michigan case. Dominion filed a motion to disqualify Lambert from the Byrne case for violating a protective order, triggering threats against the company. U.S. District Court Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya scheduled a subsequent hearing to consider sanctions against Lambert. Read Article

Michigan: People convicted of election-related crimes could be barred from serving on boards certifying votes | Katie O’Brien Kelley/Michigan Advance

The Michigan House Elections Committee deliberated on two bills, House Bill 5551 and House Bill 5550, which aim to alter procedures for recalls and eligibility for serving on election panels. HB 5551, advocated by State Rep. Noah Arbit, seeks to bar individuals convicted of certain election-related crimes from serving on the Board of State Canvassers or any county’s board of election canvassers. Testimonies underscored the necessity of safeguarding the electoral process from individuals with a history of undermining it. Read Article

Michigan judge issues warrant for lawyer who worked to reverse 2020 election | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Stefanie Lambert, a lawyer involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, faces additional legal trouble after failing to appear for a hearing regarding her compliance with court orders related to fingerprinting and DNA samples. The Oakland County judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest, expressing frustration at her repeated non-compliance. Lambert, already facing felony charges for her alleged involvement in a conspiracy to obtain voting equipment improperly, has been accused of deceiving prosecutors and is now subject to arrest. Her lawyer cited confusion surrounding the hearing, but the prosecutor deemed the bench warrant necessary. Read Article

How Michigan clerks implemented early in-person voting for state’s presidential primary | Tom Perkins/Votebeat

For this week’s primary, clerks in Michigan faced unprecedented challenges in implementing early in-person voting and other recent election law changes aimed at enhancing voter access. Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist described it as the toughest cycle ever. Despite hurdles such as voter education, logistical issues, and determining the most efficient early voting methods, Siegrist believes the benefits are significant, providing Michigan voters with ample access while ensuring election security. The presidential primary saw more than 50,000 people statewide taking advantage of early voting. Clerks across municipalities have adopted various approaches, with more populous areas often opting for independent early voting setups, while many rural municipalitiess coordinated with neighboring communities or embraced countywide arrangements. Read Article

Michigan: US Supreme Court allows sanctions against Trump-allied lawyers over 2020 election lawsuit | Lawrence Hurley/NBC

The Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from Trump-aligned lawyers who faced legal sanctions for baseless claims of election fraud in Michigan, upholding a previous ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Among the lawyers sanctioned were Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, who had filed a lawsuit alleging election irregularities including an international conspiracy to sway votes to Biden. The sanctions included payment of legal fees, additional legal training, and referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action. Powell has pleaded guilty in a separate Georgia investigation into election interference, while Wood has retired amidst ongoing probes into his conduct related to the 2020 election. Read Article

Michigan Now Offers In-Person Early Voting  | Beth LeBlanc Hayley Harding/The Detroit News

Michigan’s upcoming presidential primary introduces early in-person voting as a significant shift in election dynamics, alongside the ongoing trend of absentee voting. This new option, enabled by a constitutional amendment passed in 2022, allows voters to cast ballots in person ahead of Election Day. While the impact on voting patterns remains uncertain, campaigns are adapting strategies to engage both early and Election Day voters. The expansion of voting options requires adjustments in staffing and resources for city clerks, with challenges including recruitment and training of election workers. Read Article

Michigan clerks concerned about election software delays | Peter Kobs/CNHI News Service

County and township clerks in northwest Michigan express growing concerns over the delayed delivery of promised election software updates by the state Bureau of Elections, particularly critical for the upcoming nine-day early voting period starting February 17th. The QVF system, essential for early voting, lacks voter data despite the recent addition of an early voting module, leaving local officials untrained and uncertain about its functionality. Additionally, the necessary e-poll book software download to prevent double voting and verify voter eligibility remains unavailable, complicating preparations for early voting and prompting frustrations among clerks regarding the lack of timely communication and guidance from state authorities. Read Article

Michigan: Lawyer used state lawmaker to get voting machines, prosecutor says | Craig Mauger The Detroit News

A special prosecutor has submitted a court filing opposing a motion by former Michigan State Rep. Daire Rendon to dismiss two felony charges against her related to an attempt to obtain voting machines for an investigation into alleged fraud during the 2020 presidential election. The filing reveals that Rendon allegedly convinced local officials in her legislative district to provide tabulators to a private investigator involved in the attempt to prove election fraud. The prosecutor argues that Rendon’s conduct falls outside the legislative sphere, emphasizing that there were no subpoenas or formal investigatory mechanisms used by her to obtain the tabulators. Read Article