Michigan Election conspiracists have checklist for poll challengers: What’s on it | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

Set up hidden cameras to capture license plate numbers. If you go at night, show up armed. These aren’t battlefield directions. They’re instructions laid out as part of a strategic operation spearheaded by prominent election conspiracists seeking to keep close tabs on Michigan’s upcoming midterm election. Michigan is one of several states targeted by the America Project, an organization led by allies of former President Donald Trump to recruit citizen election monitors in ways election experts worry blurs the lines between lawful oversight and vigilantism. In a promotional video touting the America Project’s launch, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn calls the 2020 presidential election “an assault on our sacred election process.” The America Project’s website lists former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne as part of the “fearless, battle-tested team.” Byrne and Flynn participated in failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election that included an attempt to persuade Trump to order the military to seize voting machines. Two leaders from the Michigan GOP — ethnic vice chair Bernadette Smith and grassroots vice chair Marian Sheridan — appeared on panels supported by the America Project.

Full Article: Election conspiracists have checklist for Michigan poll challengers

Michigan GOP scores victory in election challenger lawsuit | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

With the midterm election just weeks away, a Michigan judge issued an order Thursday invalidating new instructions for election challengers created by the Bureau of Elections. The order from Michigan Court of Claims Judge Brock Swartzle marks a legal victory for the Michigan GOP and Republican National Committee which brought the lawsuit challenging the legality of the election challenger manual issued by the Bureau of Elections this year. Swartzle’s order bars election officials from using the manual and requires Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Michigan elections director Jonathan Brater to rescind the manual or revise it to comply with Michigan election law. Swartzle found that some of the provisions in the manual such as a ban on the use of electronic devices at absentee counting boards were at odds with the law or failed to undergo the proper rule-making procedure with input from the public and state lawmakers.

Full Article: Michigan GOP scores victory in election challenger lawsuit

In Michigan ‘It’s just a full-throttle attack on elections and on democracy’ | Jon King/ Michigan Advance

Election deniers, the legislation they are proposing and their efforts to dismantle Michigan’s voting systems ahead of the midterm elections, are being highlighted as the top threats to democracy in Michigan. That’s from an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Defend Democracy Project, which surveyed grassroots organizers, legal analysts and academic experts to identify what they assess to be the key risks. The report, “The Three Greatest Threats to Democracy in Michigan,” describes the primary threats as being intertwined. Yet Rebecca Parks, the research director for the Defend Democracy Project, says there is also coordination among these various efforts. “We see the same people pop up again and again and again and some of the same groups,” said Parks. “For instance, the sort of floods of public records requests that have just been really inundating county officials asking for sort of nonsensical records or just thousands and thousands and thousands of records from the 2020 elections that we’re seeing all across the country.”

Full Article: ‘It’s just a full-throttle attack on elections and on democracy in Michigan’ ⋆ Michigan Advance

Michigan: Republican clerk could be charged in voting-system breach | Nathan Layne/Reuters

A Michigan township official who promotes false conspiracy theories of a rigged 2020 election could face criminal charges related to two voting-system security breaches, according to previously unreported records and legal experts. A state police detective recommended that the Michigan attorney general consider unspecified charges amid a months-long probe into one breach related to the Republican clerk’s handling of a vote tabulator, according to a June email from the detective to state and local officials. Reuters obtained the email through a public-records request. The clerk, Stephanie Scott, oversaw voting in rural Adams Township until the state last year revoked her authority over elections. Scott has publicly embraced baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged against former U.S. President Donald Trump and has posted online about the QAnon conspiracy theory. In a second breach of the township’s voting system, the clerk gave a file containing confidential voter data to an information-technology expert who is a suspect in other alleged Michigan election-security violations. The expert, Benjamin Cotton, worked with voter-fraud conspiracists seeking unauthorized access to election systems in other states, according to court records reviewed by Reuters. The incident has not been previously reported.

Full Article: Republican clerk could be charged in Michigan voting-system breach | Reuters

Michigan election worker charged with tampering with voting equipment | Nathan Layne/Reuters

An election worker in a western Michigan town has been charged with two felonies after allegedly inserting a flash drive into a computer containing confidential voter registration data during an election in August, local officials said on Wednesday. At the Aug. 2 primary, an election worker was seen inserting a USB drive into the computer used to administer the election at a precinct in Gaines Township in Kent County, according to a statement by county clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons. The incident highlights the so-called “insider threat” risk that has increasingly worried election officials, especially in battleground states like Michigan where falsehoods about systemic voter fraud in the 2020 election have spread most widely. “This incident is extremely egregious and incredibly alarming. Not only is it a violation of Michigan law, but it is a violation of public trust and of the oath all election workers are required to take,” Lyons said in the statement.

Full Article: Michigan election worker charged with tampering with voting equipment | Reuters

Michigan prosecutor: ‘Additional investigation’ needed on DePerno election case | Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

The special prosecutor appointed to review broad allegations of possible criminal conduct by the Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general and eight others who sought to undermine the results of the 2020 election says more investigative work is needed before a decision can be made on bringing charges. In a statement, Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson declined to say if his decision on whether to criminally charge GOP attorney general hopeful Matthew DePerno or others allegedly involved in the election-related scheme would come before or after the Nov. 8 general election. “As prosecutor I have an ethical obligation to ensure that all necessary evidence and information is obtained and reviewed so that a determination of criminal charges can be made.  In order to meet that obligation, I have determined that additional investigative work needs to be done and I am working with investigators on those issues,” Hilson said in an email Wednesday morning. “I am acting as expeditiously as possible, but due to this ethical obligation, I cannot say at this time when any decisions would be made.”

Full Article: Michigan prosecutor: ‘Additional investigation’ needed on DePerno case

Michigan is trying to ensure security of its voting systems after tabulator breaches | Oralandar Brand-Williams/Votebeat

As the midterms approach, the Michigan secretary of state’s office has found itself repeatedly defending the state’s election system against local clerks. Experts say the clearest vulnerability facing Michigan are such insider threats, which the secretary of state has little ability to proactively prevent. The problem became most evident after a handful of local clerks last year allegedly gave people unauthorized access to election equipment, forcing the secretary of state’s staff to manage the fallout. Now at least one of those clerks is making false claims about the state’s voting machines and hinting she may conduct the election without them. Michigan is among the closest watched midterm battlegrounds, and the allegations that clerks in Barry County’s Irving Township, Missaukee County’s Lake Township, and Roscommon County, and a supervisor in Roscommon’s Richfield Township, allowed pro-Trump actors to have unauthorized access to tabulators last year sent shockwaves through the state. Experts and state officials agree that there has been no lasting damage to the state’s voting systems, because the protective measures in place worked. But Michigan’s decentralized election administration means the first line of defense in election security are the 1,609 county, municipal and township clerks, who are responsible for overseeing and protecting equipment and following the law — or not. The widely disseminated responsibilities make it difficult for the state to ensure that the rules are consistently followed. While there is no indication that other clerks have allowed unauthorized access and several interviewed for this story vowed to keep the machines secure, elections security consultant Ryan Macias said insiders willingly providing access remains “the biggest risk to security.”

Full Article: Michigan tabulator breaches: How security works when clerks follow rules – Votebeat Michigan – Nonpartisan local reporting on elections and voting

Michigan sheriff: Clerks can hand over tabulators. Experts: He’s wrong | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf contended in an interview this week that local clerks have the “authority” to hand over voting equipment to outside groups, a reading of Michigan election law that experts say is incorrect and problematic. Leaf was one of nine individuals whom Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office referenced in a petition for a special prosecutor over an alleged conspiracy to improperly obtain tabulators amid a push by supporters of former President Donald Trump to investigate the 2020 presidential election. Leaf’s department had launched a probe into unproven claims of election fraud in his west Michigan county, where Trump won 65% of the vote. Irving Township Clerk Sharon Olson indicated that she had been asked by Leaf to cooperate with the investigation and she later turned over a tabulator to a third party, according to the Attorney General’s Office. The Irving Township tabulator ended up being one of five that were taken to rental properties in Oakland County, where self-described cybersecurity experts “broke into” them and “performed ‘tests'” on them, the Attorney General’s Office alleged. Asked at an event Tuesday if he encouraged Olson to hand over her tabulator, Leaf replied, “No. That didn’t happen.” But moments later, he added, “You understand that the clerk has that authority, right? … Yeah. Even to a third party. That’s in the election law.” However, Jake Rollow, spokesman for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, said local clerks can give their equipment to only authorized vendors, contractors and voting system test laboratories.

Full Article: Michigan sheriff: Clerks can hand over tabulators. Experts: He’s wrong

Michigan secretary of state says officials worried about ‘violence and disruption’ on Election Day | Zach Schonfeld/The Hill

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) on Sunday said election officials nationwide are most worried about “violence and disruption” as the midterm elections approach. “Violence and disruption on Election Day, first and foremost, and in the days surrounding the election,” Benson told CBS “Face the Nation” chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett when asked about her biggest concern. “Secondly, there’s a concern about the ongoing spread of misinformation, which, of course fuels the potential for additional threats, harassment and even violence on Election Day,” Benson added. Despite her worries, Benson noted that election officials have been working for roughly two years to protect the integrity of the election process, an effort she described as a success “at every turn,” vowing to seek accountability for anyone who attempts to interfere with November’s midterm contests. “Democracy prevailed in 2020,” she told Garrett. “There have been, in Michigan and in other states, no significant attempts apart from the tragedy in our Capitol on Jan. 6 to really see disruption of the polling places on Election Day itself.”

Full Article: Michigan secretary of state says officials worried about ‘violence and disruption’ on Election Day | The Hill

Michigan police investigating how voting machine wound up for sale online | Donie O’Sullivan, Curt Devine and Kimberly Berryman/CNN

Authorities in Michigan are investigating how a missing voting machine from the state wound up for sale on eBay last month for $1,200. The machine was purchased by a cybersecurity expert in Connecticut who alerted Michigan authorities and is now waiting for law enforcement to pick up the device. CNN determined the machine was dropped off at a Goodwill store in Northern Michigan, before being sold last month on eBay by a man in Ohio. In an interview with CNN, the Ohio man said he purchased the machine online at Goodwill for $7.99 before auctioning it on eBay for $1,200. Election machines are part of the United States’ critical infrastructure and are supposed to be kept under lock and key. It’s an issue that has become increasingly important in recent years as people have sought to gain unauthorized access to election systems in a futile attempt to prove the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen. News of the sold machine comes as authorities in Michigan, Colorado and Georgia are probing apparent efforts to gain unauthorized access to voting machines or obtain data from them following the 2020 election.

Full Article: Police investigating how Michigan voting machine wound up for sale online – CNNPolitics

Michigan sheriff sought to seize multiple voting machines, records show | By Peter Eisler and Nathan Layne/Reuters

A sheriff in Barry County, Michigan, already under state investigation for alleged involvement in an illegal breach of a vote-counting machine, sought warrants in July to seize other machines in an effort to prove former President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, documents reviewed by Reuters showed. The proposed warrants sought authorization to seize vote tabulators and various election records from the offices of the Barry County and Woodland Township clerks, the documents showed. The two jurisdictions have not been previously identified as targets in the sheriff’s investigation into suspicions that machines in the county were rigged to siphon votes from Trump. The warrants were submitted in July to the office of Barry County Prosecuting Attorney Julie Nakfoor Pratt, a Republican, who told Reuters she declined to endorse them because she felt the sheriff lacked sufficient evidence to support his suspicions that the machines were rigged. Reuters obtained copies of the documents under a Freedom of Information request filed with the prosecutor’s office. The requests suggest Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, a Republican, was seeking to broaden his investigation of alleged election fraud even as he faced investigation from the state attorney general’s office.

Full Article: Michigan sheriff sought to seize multiple voting machines, records show | Reuters

Michigan election officials demanded change after 2020. Their calls so far have gone unmet. | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

As voters across the country prepare for the upcoming midterm elections, many will contend with a whole new set of election rules from lawmakers who ushered in major changes in the wake of 2020. But in Michigan, the landscape remains largely unchanged. Divided government in the state killed Republican proposals enacted elsewhere as Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repeatedly wielded her veto pen to strike down GOP-sponsored bills, including strict voter ID requirements and a ban on private donations for election offices. But even changes favored by lawmakers and election officials from both parties were sidelined by the governor or stalled in the state Legislature ahead of the August primary. Clerks who administer elections have pushed for changes they say will improve voter access and confidence such as time to process ballots before Election Day, training requirements for election challengers and allowing military voters to return ballots electronically. But inaction has left election officials scratching their heads. “Both sides are saying we want to make commonsense voting reforms,” said Harrison Township Clerk Adam Wit, a Republican who was recently elected as president of Michigan’s municipal clerks association.

Full Article: Michigan election officials’ calls for change have gone unmet

Michigan legislature mum on if it will allow clerks to preprocess absentee ballots in November | Jordyn Hermani/MLive.com

If preprocessing is a priority for the heads of the House and Senate’s election committees, then it’s one of several as the legislature turns its sights toward the 2022 election – and definitely not at the forefront. MLive spoke to a handful of local clerks following the Aug. 2 primary and the bulk – regardless of party affiliation – said they hope lawmakers address two main things before the Nov. 8 general election: The ability to preprocess absentee ballots and increased funding. Lawmakers though, specifically Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Groveland Township, say it’s one of a handful of things they’re mulling this year regarding changes to how Michigan administers elections. Even with that acknowledgement, none of those topics are guaranteed to cross the legislative finish line and be implemented prior to November. Michigan flirted with preprocessing back in 2020 when 3.3 million people – 60% of voters that year – chose to vote from home in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the legislature allowed local clerks, though only for cities and townships with least 25,000 residents, to open the envelopes that absentee ballots came.

Full Article: Legislature mum on if it will allow clerks to preprocess absentee ballots in November – mlive.com

Michigan: Preprocessing, more funding among clerks’ asks for legislature | Ben Orner/MLive.com

Michigan’s primary election passed by last week with few bumps in the road. But with the most decentralized election system in America, local clerks from both parties are calling for critical changes, and they want state lawmakers’ attention. Election results are notoriously slow in Michigan, with the most finger-pointing directed toward mail-in ballot processing. State law doesn’t allow tabulation of absentee ballots – which numbered more than 1.1 million in last week’s election – until 7 a.m. on Election Day. Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum told MLive that things ran smoothly in her jurisdiction on Aug. 2, but it could be smoother. She said there is room for lawmakers to add absentee (also called AV) ballot preprocessing, while also give more funding to train more election officials.

Full Article: Preprocessing, more funding among Michigan clerks’ asks for legislature – mlive.com

Michigan: Trump-backed attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, documents show | Nathan Layne/Nathan LayneReuters

The Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general led a team that gained unauthorized access to voting equipment while hunting for evidence to support former President Donald Trump’s false election-fraud claims, according to a Reuters analysis of court filings and public records. The analysis shows that people working with Matthew DePerno – the Trump-endorsed nominee for the state’s top law-enforcement post – examined a vote tabulator from Richfield Township, a conservative stronghold of 3,600 people in northern Michigan’s Roscommon County. The Richfield security breach is one of four similar incidents being investigated by Michigan’s current attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel. Under state law, it is a felony to seek or provide unauthorized access to voting equipment. DePerno did not respond to a request for comment. The involvement of a Republican attorney general nominee in a voting-system breach comes amid a national effort by backers of Trump’s fraud falsehoods to win state offices that could prove critical in deciding any future contested elections.

Full Article: Exclusive: Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, documents show | Reuters

Michigan Attorney General says 9 people are focus of voting machine breach investigation. Who are they? | Clara Hendrickson and Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

Michigan GOP attorney general candidate Matt DePerno is not the only one in the national spotlight after state investigators accused him of participating in a conspiracy to access voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. DePerno was part of a nine-person team now at the center of the criminal probe, according to the office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel’s Office, along with Michigan State Police, are investigating a plot “to unlawfully obtain access to voting machines” used in the 2020 presidential election and recently petitioned an independent arm of the attorney general’s office to appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against those allegedly involved. The group includes those who seized ballot tabulators, broke into them and assisted in gaining unauthorized access to the machines, according to a petition from Nessel’s Office. The petition claims that DePerno, lawyer Stefanie Lambert Junttila and state Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, “orchestrated a coordinated plan to gain access to voting tabulators” from Roscommon County, Richfield Township, Irving Township and Lake City Township. A group of four subsequently handled the equipment to conduct its own election review, according to the petition from the attorney general’s office. That team included Ben Cotton, Jeff Lenberg, Doug Logan and James Penrose.

Full Article: Michigan voting investigation: The 9 people at the center of the probe

Michigan changed how election results get reported. Expect delays in November | Craig Mauger and Kayla Ruble/The Detroit News

An effort to make Michigan elections more secure and quell fears that electronic equipment could be hacked delayed the reporting of Tuesday’s primary results, which officials said could foreshadow even lengthier waits in November. In some counties, including Wayne and Macomb, it took nearly four hours for partial initial results to be posted publicly on Tuesday after election workers had to hand-deliver memory cards from vote-counting machines instead of transmitting them using cellular modems. In November, officials warn the reporting of election results could be even slower because of a crush of absentee ballots that can’t legally be processed until Election Day, and a voter turnout that could be double the 2.1 million ballots cast in last week’s primary. “I’m not looking forward to November,” Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry said. “We really want to deliver results quickly, accurately and with confidence, and this will hinder our ability to do some of that, and the public is going to blame us.” The fallout points to the delicate balancing act facing election officials in the battleground state, where concerns about fraud and tampering have grown since the 2020 presidential election. Delays in releasing results create frustration and, potentially, opportunities for conspiracy theories to flourish.

Full Article: Michigan changed how election results get reported. Expect delays in November

Michigan: GOP activist group instructs poll watchers to call 911 | Heidi Przybyla/Politico

Members of a GOP activist group coaching Michigan poll workers and watchers before Tuesday’s primary election instructed them to call 911 and contact sheriffs to involve law enforcement in election-related complaints, according to a recording of a Sunday night meeting obtained by POLITICO. The plan, outlined by Joanne Bakale, who is running a voter project for the Election Integrity Force and who led the meeting, is the latest example of how many individuals who falsely maintain there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election are seeking to involve law enforcement around elections administration. “One of the issues that we had in the 2020 election is that no one actually filed any complaints with the police,” said Bakale, advising participants to document issues around voting or voting machines by calling 911. In 2020, dozens of poll challengers were locked outside Detroit’s TCF Center, where absentee ballots were being counted, after Covid-19 safety protocols were violated. Since then, many activists and GOP officials have insisted they witnessed fraud, despite a GOP-led investigation refuting the claims, and worked to form relationships with local police.

Full Article: GOP activist group instructs Michigan poll watchers to call 911 – POLITICO

Michigan: Unofficial election results delayed after some counties changed how results are transmitted | Sophia Kalakailo/Michigan Radio

Delays in unofficial reporting of results in Michigan’s primary were caused by a change in how those results are transmitted from the local level to the county level. As of Wednesday morning, results were still coming in from large communities. At least 70 Michigan counties have stopped using modems to transmit unofficial election results electronically, according to Michigan Department of State Spokesperson Tracy Wimmer. Wayne County, Michigan’s largest, is among those that stopped using modems to transmit results. The shift comes amid a push to increase election security by critics who doubt the results of the November 2020 presidential election — despite Republican-led audits that upheld the results — and disproven claims of fraud involving voting machines connected to the internet through modems. “This is being done in accordance with guidance issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in order to, one, prevent any remote possibility — which is very small — of interference, but also to counter the misinformation that is circulated concerning the use of modems,” Wimmer said.

Full Article: Unofficial election results delayed after some counties changed how results are transmitted

Michigan election workers want more done to keep them safe as they face threats, harassment | Grant Hermes/Click On Detroit

During the 2020 election, Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist’s office collected more than 57,000 ballots. They did it safely and securely. But once the counting was done, the threats started, coming by the dozens. “Veiled threats,” said Siegrist said during an interview in early May. “Yeah, I received lots of veiled threats. Nobody called me and said I’m going to kill your family.” His office was in the thick of preparing for the August primaries. But those calls did happen for other clerks in Michigan. Former Farmington Hills Clerk Tina Barton received a voicemail filled with explicit language threatening her family. Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey was sent photos of a dead body with a message to imagine that body as her daughter. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was threatened by armed protestors outside her home and told NBC News that former President Donald Trump wanted her executed. Trump denies that claim. “I would sit there late at night a lot of times holding my son worried, wondering, you know, what would happen if these people actually made do with some of the stuff that they were saying?” Siegrist said as he frequently had long, pensive pauses while recounting his long, long nights. “It wears on you. It wears on you.”

Full Article: Michigan election workers want more done to keep them safe as they face threats, harassment

Michigan Makes $8M in Funds Available for Election Security | Jared Leatzow/Government Technology

As much as $8 million in federal funds will be available to Michigan’s election officials, including northwest Ottawa County. Municipalities are eligible to receive up to $1,500 in reimbursements for each one of their voting districts. The money is meant to help improve security for local elections. Grand Haven Township has reported in a recent weekly newsletter that it is eligible to receive as much as $10,500. Township officials said they will be using the money to pay for a security camera to monitor their election drop box at the administration building, and pay for seven voter I.D. scanners and eight laptop computers. Ferrysburg Clerk Jessie Wagenmaker said her municipality has only one district and would be eligible to receive only $1,500. Wagenmaker said Ferrysburg has not decided yet if it will use the funds. Spring Lake Township Clerk Carolyn Boersma said the township will be receiving $9,000, and plans to spend the money on laptops, I.D. scanners and another ballot scanner. Michigan primary elections will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 2. Ottawa County residents will be asked to vote in the Republican primary to decide who their candidates will be for the county’s Board of Commissioners.

Full Article: Michigan Makes $8M in Funds Available for Election Security

Ex-Michigan elections director: False electors’ actions should be reviewed | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

The actions of 16 Republicans who signed a false certificate claiming Donald Trump won Michigan in 2020 deserve a “close look” from law enforcement investigators, a former state elections director said. Chris Thomas, who served in the role for 36 years under both Democratic and Republican secretaries of state, made the comments Wednesday during a press event for the Defend Democracy Project, a nonprofit. It comes after a U.S. House select committee used a public hearing to examine the efforts of Trump and his supporters in multiple battleground states to reverse the outcome of the November 2020 election. The so-called “alternative” electors in Michigan falsely claimed that Trump had won the state and signed a certificate on Dec. 14, 2020, that was submitted to the National Archives and the U.S. Senate in an attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, has previously suggested the false electors violated multiple laws, including one against election-related forgery. Michigan policy bans making or publishing “a false document with the intent to defraud.” The potential penalties are a fine of up to $1,000 or up to five years behind bars. Asked if he believes the false electors in Michigan broke the election forgery law, Thomas, who’s also a lawyer, responded that he wasn’t sure but their actions come “very close.”

Full Article: Ex-Michigan elections director: False electors’ actions should be reviewed

Michigan lawmaker offered ‘forensic audit’ in bid to access voting machines | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

A Michigan lawmaker who attempted to get an unidentified group of people access to voting machines in the battleground state told one clerk the team was hoping to perform a “forensic audit,” according to an email obtained by The Detroit News. The message, which was sent by Markey Township Clerk Sheryl Tussey to other officials in northern Michigan’s Roscommon County, reveals the individuals who were looking to obtain voting equipment were using the same terminology that supporters of former President Donald Trump were wielding in their push to advance unproven claims of fraud in the November 2020 election. “I did hear from someone who wanted to do a ‘forensic audit,'” Tussey wrote in an email on May 5, 2021. “Rep. Daire Rendon contacted me a while back and asked if some people could come up and get my machine for that reason, and I said no that I wasn’t comfortable with that.” Tussey’s email — which was sent to 18 recipients, including other local clerks — sheds new light on Rendon’s requests to multiple clerks in her district to get access to vote-counting machines. The News first reported May 20 on Rendon’s entanglement in an investigation by Michigan State Police and Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office into unauthorized access to vote-counting tabulator machines after the 2020 election.

Full Article: Michigan lawmaker offered ‘forensic audit’ in bid to access voting machines

Michigan widens probe into voting system breaches by Trump allies | Nathan Layne and Peter Eisler/Reuters

 State police in Michigan have obtained warrants to seize voting equipment and election-related records in at least three towns and one county in the past six weeks, police records show, widening the largest known investigation into unauthorized attempts by allies of former President Donald Trump to access voting systems. The previously unreported records include search warrants and investigators’ memos obtained by Reuters through public records requests. The documents reveal a flurry of efforts by state authorities to secure voting machines, poll books, data-storage devices and phone records as evidence in a probe launched in mid-February. The state’s investigation follows breaches of local election systems in Michigan by Republican officials and pro-Trump activists trying to prove his baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. The police documents reveal, among other things, that the state is investigating a potential breach of voting equipment in Lake Township, a small, largely conservative community in northern Michigan’s Missaukee County. The previously unreported case is one of at least 17 incidents nationwide, including 11 in Michigan, in which Trump supporters gained or attempted to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment.

Full Article: Exclusive: Michigan widens probe into voting system breaches by Trump allies | Reuters

Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley arrested on Jan. 6 riot-related charges | Robert Snell, Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc/The Detroit News

FBI agents arrested Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley on Thursday on misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, injecting a new round of turmoil into Michigan’s upcoming primary election. Kelley, 40, became one of the highest-profile individuals nationally to face charges so far in federal authorities’ ongoing investigation. Federal court records describe Kelley as being an active participant in the riot, climbing onto portions of the Capitol, encouraging yelling, gesturing to participants and removing a covering from a temporary structure outside the Capitol. Kelley declined to answer reporters’ questions after he was released on bond Thursday afternoon following a brief hearing in federal court in Grand Rapids. He was greeted by a crowd of his supporters outside the federal courthouse, including GOP attorney general candidate Matt DePerno. “We love you, Ryan,” said one of Kelley’s backers at the end of his initial hearing in a courtroom. Prosecutors filed four charges against Kelley. They are knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against person or property in a restricted building or grounds; willfully injuring or committing depredation against property of the U.S. If convicted, Kelley faces a maximum punishment of up to one year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000 for each charge. He was freed on a personal recognizance bond. His next hearing will take place over Zoom on June 16.

Full Article: Ryan Kelley, Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate, arrested on Jan. 6 riot-related charges

Michigan voter ID campaign finds fraud, delays submitting petitions for November ballot | Ben Orner/MLive.com

A ballot drive to tighten Michigan voting laws and require voter IDs will not end up on the November ballot, petition leaders announced Wednesday. Instead, circulators will aim for action by the state legislature after finding thousands of fraudulent signatures among its stacks of petitions. Secure MI Vote says it gathered over 435,000 signatures – more than the 340,047 required – and those don’t include around 20,000 that the committee’s “quality control” process believes were fraudulent. But instead of submitting to the Secretary of State by Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline, organizers decided to keep collecting and build a larger cushion. The Michigan Bureau of Elections checks petition signatures for fraud, and opponents can also file outside challenges. In May, the Bureau found so many fraudulent signatures in petitions from five Republican gubernatorial candidates that they were booted from the November ballot. “We would also be filing today if it weren’t for some people who tried to defraud the process,” Secure MI Vote spokesperson Jamie Roe said at a Wednesday press conference, stacked boxes of petitions behind him.

Full Article: Michigan voter ID campaign finds fraud, delays submitting petitions for November ballot – mlive.com

Michigan lawmaker entangled in voting tabulator probe | Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc/The Detroit News

Michigan state Rep. Daire Rendon, a Republican who has previously claimed to have evidence of election fraud from information technology “experts,” has quietly become entangled in a probe into unauthorized access to voting tabulators. The Michigan State Police and Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office have been investigating voting machine access in multiple counties in the battleground state for months. Their work started in Roscommon County, a northern Michigan area represented by Rendon, a Republican from Lake City. Carol Asher, the longtime clerk in Denton Township, told The Detroit News on Friday that Rendon had contacted her in the weeks after the November 2020 election with a request that baffled her. “She wanted to get access to our tabulator, and I said no,” recalled Asher, who added that she believed Rendon had contacted other clerks as well. “She called me on my cellphone on a Saturday,” Asher added. The Attorney General’s Office had been in contact with Asher, the clerk said, and she provided a statement about Rendon’s request on March 10, 2022, according to a document reviewed by The News. The subject line of the statement was “statement regarding phone call received about tabulator access.”

Full Article: Michigan lawmaker entangled in voting tabulator probe

Michigan election chief: Trump suggested I be arrested for treason and executed | ynthia McFadden, Kevin Monahan and Alexandra Chaidez/NBC

Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s top election official, faced an onslaught of threats after the 2020 presidential election for refusing to overturn results that showed Joe Biden had won the state. In those hectic weeks, she says she also received an especially disturbing piece of information: President Donald Trump suggested in a White House meeting that she should be arrested for treason and executed. Benson, a Democrat, revealed the alleged remark for the first time in an interview with NBC News. She said she learned of it from a source familiar with Trump’s White House meeting. “It was surreal and I felt sad,” Benson said, recalling her reaction. “It certainly amplified the heightened sense of anxiety, stress and uncertainty of that time — which I still feel in many ways — because it showed there was no bottom to how far he (Trump) and his supporters were willing to stoop to overturn or discredit a legitimate election.” Reached for comment, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said: “I have it on good authority that Secretary Benson knowingly lied throughout her interview with NBC News.” Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, is now locked in an election fight with a Republican candidate who parrots Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election. In speeches and on her podcast, Kristina Karamo has said the election was “rigged and stolen” and “Secretary of State Benson should go to jail.”

Full Article: Michigan election chief: Trump suggested I be arrested for treason and executed

Michigan: How a political activist convinced 3 people to tamper with voting machine | Francis X. Donnelly/The Detroit News

It began with a phone call to the wrong person last year. It ended with three residents seizing the voting machine of a tiny northern Michigan town. They were recruited by a political activist who, among other things, said she believed a satellite owned by the Vatican contained evidence that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, according to her interview with police. The men disassembled the vote tabulator but couldn’t reach its software and, even if they had, it didn’t have any information. It had long been given to the county elections office. b“I can’t believe anything this ridiculous would happen in Cross Village,” said Diana Keller, the township clerk. “There were some idiots who didn’t know what they were doing, or knew but didn’t care.” The ringleader, Tera Jackson, 56, who wasn’t present when the men handled the machine, was arrested and pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of creating a disturbance. She received a delayed sentence in February. The three men, who police believe were duped by Jackson, weren’t charged. Neither Jackson nor the men would comment for this story. The outcome left few people happy. Keller’s brother, Steve, who is the town supervisor, said Jackson was barely punished and more people should have been charged.

 

Full Article: Political activist convinced 3 people to tamper with Michigan voting machine

Michigan authorities expand probe into voting machine access | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

The Michigan State Police have seized a tabulator in a township in Barry County as part of an ongoing investigation into unauthorized access to voting machines. Jamie Knight, the supervisor in Irving Township, disclosed the seizure in a Thursday statement in which she said authorities, including Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, had obtained a search warrant and executed it on April 29. … Investigators had “expanded” a probe that began with a complaint in Roscommon County “to other counties,” said Lt. Derrick Carroll, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police. “This is an open investigation, and we will continue to investigate allegations of unauthorized access to tabulation machines until we have exhausted all leads,” Carroll said in a statement. “This alleged unauthorized access did not, in any way, affect the 2020 election.” Carroll didn’t specify how many counties were now entangled in the investigation or why the probe had expanded. n February, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson asked the Attorney General’s office and the Michigan State Police to investigate reports that an “unnamed third party” was granted access to voting technology in Roscommon County.

Full Article: Michigan authorities expand probe into voting machine access