Michigan

Michigan Republicans Replace Officials Who Certify Vote Totals | Matt Shuham/TPM

Like lots of other rank-and-file Republicans, Robert Boyd has his doubts about the integrity of the last election, particularly in his home state of Michigan — and particularly in Detroit’s TCF Center, where the city’s votes were counted last year despite a concerted effort from local Republicans to disrupt the counting process. “People saw ballots come in the back door, so, you know, there were cameras in there that people weren’t aware of, that were there,” Boyd told TPM over the phone Tuesday. “They had a bunch hiding under the table. It was not a very pleasant thing to see.” But there’s a big difference between Boyd and others who may share his view: The 73-year-old Rockwood, Michigan resident is the newest member of the four-person Wayne County Board of Canvassers, the body responsible for certifying vote totals for Detroit and the surrounding area. He’s one of several new members of such boards around the state, chosen by local Republican leaders, who are replacing incumbents who voted to certify the last election under immense, nationwide pressure from their party. The Detroit News first reported on the wave of replacements last week, including incumbents who wanted to be renominated but weren’t.

Full Article: Michigan Republicans Replace Officials Who Certify Vote Totals

Michigan Republicans replace local election officials in ‘unprecedented’ trend | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Republican Party leaders across the battleground state of Michigan have quietly worked in recent weeks to replace incumbent county election officials with newcomers, some of whom have sought to undermine the public's faith in the 2020 vote. The trend focuses on four-member county canvassing boards, the bipartisan panels in charge of verifying records and importantly, certifying results. It comes in the midst of an internal party struggle over whether to accept Democratic President Joe Biden's win last year.  On Nov. 1, two members of each board — one Republican and one Democrat —  will begin new four-year terms. Out of Michigan's 11 largest counties, Republicans have nominated new individuals for the positions in eight, according to a Detroit News investigation. In at least four of the counties — 36%— the incumbent GOP canvasser wanted to be renominated but wasn't. Democrats are concerned that the new canvassers, spurred by former President Donald Trump, will refuse to approve future results or use their positions to interfere in the process. Mark Brewer, former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party and an elections attorney, labeled the unfolding situation in the state "unprecedented." Full Article: Michigan GOP removes election officials in 'unprecedented' trend

Michigan judge denies Secretary of State Benson’s motion in dismissed Antrim County election lawsuit | Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle

A judge denied a motion from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson seeking to lift a stay order in a dismissed Antrim County election-related lawsuit to assess whether court-protected images from Antrim County’s voting equipment were shared during a “cyber symposium” hosted by Donald Trump supporter and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. A data security expert, Harri Hursti, said in a declaration included with Benson’s motion, he attended the August event where a link to download an image which appeared to have originated from Antrim County was shared on social media by one of the event’s speakers — CodeMonkeyZ — who has nearly 400,000 followers. A December court order signed by 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer allowed for a forensic examination of the county’s voting equipment after a local man, Bill Bailey, filed a lawsuit. But the judge’s decision to allow access to voting equipment also placed controls on what could be released to the public. Elsenheimer, responding to Benson’s motion, said that Bailey’s lawsuit — dismissed in May — had been referred to the Michigan Court of Appeals and until that court decided whether to hear the case, he was denying the motion. Full Article: Judge denies Secretary of State Benson's motion in dismissed Antrim election lawsuit | Local News | record-eagle.com

Michigan: Macomb County clerk pursues forensic audit of election server | Carol Thompson/The Detroit News

Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini said Tuesday he plans to hire a cyber security firm to conduct a forensic audit of the county's election server to "restore the confidence of our election processes in Macomb County." "I cannot say with certainty whether or not we will find something from the past, but I can say that Macomb will lead the state in election integrity in the future," Forlini said in a statement. "We are in the process of establishing best election practices that we will continually look at and modify as laws and technology change." Former President Donald Trump beat Democrat Joe Biden 53%-45% in Macomb County last year, the second consecutive time the Republican won the county. But Biden won the state by about 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, and Trump has made unsubstantiated claims fraud cost him the election. Forlini said he has no reason to doubt the results in Macomb County. The audit will build public confidence in the local election system and assuage some residents' fears about outsiders' ability to interfere in the results, he said. "I'm trying to establish all the best practices for good, clean elections," Forlini told The Detroit News. "Not to say they weren't clean before; I'm not trying to allude to that. I'm trying to say that I want to be able to answer in the affirmative that, from a technology standpoint, we have clean elections."

Full Article: Macomb County clerk pursues forensic audit of election server

Michigan Poll Challengers Are Suing Dominion With Dershowitz’s Help | Madison Hall/Business Insider

A group of eight Michigan poll challengers is suing Dominion Voting Systems after the company sent them cease and desist letters. First reported by The Daily Beast, the group is being led by a former "Stop the Steal" attorney, Kurt Olsen, who attempted to convince the US Department of Justice to file a lawsuit regarding the 2020 election to the Supreme Court as part of an effort to undermine President Joe Biden's electoral victory. Famed Democratic attorney and former lawyer for President Donald Trump, Alan Dershowitz, is also a part of the group's counsel. He told The Daily Beast he's an "adviser and consultant on the First Amendment issues of this case." The state of Michigan allows for interest groups and political parties to appoint "election challengers" to challenge a voter's eligibility or an election inspector's actions.  Eight of the state's challengers from the 2020 presidential election said they received cease and desist letters from Dominion after they inquired about potential irregularities in the election despite never mentioning Dominion in their formal challenges. Full Article: Michigan Poll Challengers Are Suing Dominion With Dershowitz's Help

Split Michigan Legislature Approves Election-Related Bills | Michigan News | David Eggert/Associated Press

The Michigan Legislature on Thursday passed election bills that would limit who can access the state voter file, keep voting equipment from being connected to the internet and require election challengers to receive training. The legislation sent to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was supported by majority Republicans and opposed by all but one Senate Democrat and many House Democrats. The bills blocking outside groups' access to the voter database and prohibiting the connection of electronic pollbooks or voting systems to the internet would codify existing practice. “It's a good idea to take this bill and take the best practices and put them into law so they can't be changed," Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican and former secretary of state, said of the internet-connection legislation. Full Article: Split Michigan Legislature Approves Election-Related Bills | Michigan News | US News

Michigan: GOP to massively step up 2022 poll watching, Mackinac conference told | Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press

The GOP will massively increase its poll watching and election litigation efforts in 2022 and beyond after so far failing to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election through a series of lawsuits and audits, a top Republican National Committee official said Friday. Josh Findlay, election integrity director for the RNC, said one problem with GOP operations in 2020 was that attorneys for former President Donald Trump and other conservative groups went to court too late. Going to court on Election Day is "not going to be effective," Findlay told attendees at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, held every other year on the northern Michigan island that can only be reached by ferry or private plane, and where motorized vehicles are generally banned. Findlay acknowledged another problem — one that both nonpartisan judges and Democrats said in response to allegations of voter fraud and irregularities put forward by Republican poll watchers in Detroit. There, large numbers of volunteers were recruited by the GOP, in many cases at the last minute, to go to the TCF Center in Detroit while absentee ballots were being counted after the Nov. 3 vote.

Full Article: GOP to massively step up 2022 poll watching, Mackinac conference told

Michigan, Detroit seek $204K for fighting election lawsuit | Sara Powers/Assocaited Press

Attorneys are seeking $204,000 in fees for successfully defending Detroit and Michigan from a post-election lawsuit filed by lawyers aligned with former President Donald Trump. The tally filed Wednesday came two weeks after a judge said the lawyers, including Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood, would pay a penalty for pursuing the case. The final figure will be determined later. Trump voters filed a lawsuit in November after Michigan's vote in favor of Joe Biden was certified. They alleged fraud and wanted voting machines impounded. U.S. District Judge Linda Parker said the lawsuit was a sham. “Individuals may have a right — within certain bounds — to disseminate allegations of fraud unsupported by law or fact in the public sphere,” the judge said. “But attorneys cannot exploit their privilege and access to the judicial process to do the same.” Detroit was represented by lawyers in private practice. They're seeking $182,000. The Michigan attorney general's office is requesting about $22,000. Parker also ordered 12 hours of legal education, including six hours in election law, for each of the nine pro-Trump attorneys. Her decision will be sent to the states where the lawyers are licensed for possible disciplinary action there. Full Article: Michigan, Detroit seek $204K for fighting election lawsuit | Hosted

Michigan: Judge Orders Sanctions Against Pro-Trump Lawyers Over Election Lawsuit | Alan Feuer/The New York Times

Full Article: Judge Orders Sanctions Against Pro-Trump Lawyers Over Election Lawsuit - The New York Times

Michigan: Federal judge sanctions Sidney Powell, Kraken team over election case | Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

Attorneys allied with former President Donald Trump who tried to use a conspiracy-laden lawsuit to overturn Michigan's election results have received federal sanctions from a judge in Michigan and could face a host of other disciplinary measures. The attorneys must also pay legal fees for the city of Detroit and others that defended against the lawsuit and take 12 hours of training — including six hours focused on election law — in the next six months. The punishments foreshadow far more potentially devastating problems for Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and a cadre of other attorneys who used their so-called "Kraken" lawsuit to push a false claim that an international cabal worked to steal the election away from Trump in Michigan and several other states. In addition to harshly chastising the attorneys who filed the suit in her ruling, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered her sanctions be sent to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission and similar associations around the country. Other courts and state bar associations have the capacity to disbar or otherwise punish these attorneys. "The attorneys who filed the instant lawsuit abused the well-established rules applicable to the litigation process by proffering claims not backed by law; proffering claims not backed by evidence (but instead, speculation, conjecture, and unwarranted suspicion); proffering factual allegations and claims without engaging in the required prefiling inquiry; and dragging out these proceedings even after they acknowledged that it was too late to attain the relief sought," wrote Parker in a 110-page opinion, issued Wednesday. "And this case was never about fraud — it was about undermining the people’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so." Full Article: Federal judge sanctions Sidney Powell, Kraken team over election case

Michigan: Hearing scheduled in dismissed Antrim County election lawsuit |Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle

A hearing is scheduled in an Antrim County election-related lawsuit in which Michigan’s Secretary of State intervened, despite a judge’s earlier decision dismissing the case. A local man, Bill Bailey, filed suit Nov. 23, accusing the county of voter fraud and of violating his constitutional rights, after initial results of the 2020 Presidential election showed about 2,000 votes cast for then-President Donald Trump had mistakenly been assigned to then-challenger Joe Biden. Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy acknowledged her office’s human error, an assertion backed by the state’s Senate Oversight Committee, which in June released a 55-page report rejecting claims of widespread election fraud in Antrim County and in Michigan. Bailey had also accused the county of diluting his vote, after a marijuana proposal, allowing a single dispensary in the Village of Central Lake, passed by a single vote. Records show Bailey is registered to vote in Central Lake Township, and only voters registered in the Village of Central Lake received ballots which included the marijuana proposal. Bailey — represented by Matthew DePerno of Portage — accused Antrim County of using what he called intentionally compromised Dominion voting equipment, that deliberately “switched” votes from Republican to Democratic candidates during the 2020 election. These claims have been repeatedly debunked by Dominion CEO John Poulos, and by national, state and county election officials including Chris Krebs, the former chief of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Ryan Macias, former acting director of U.S. Election Assistance Commission Voting Testing and Certification Program and Alex Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan. Full Article: Hearing scheduled in dismissed Antrim County election lawsuit | Local News | record-eagle.com

Michigan Bill Would Protect Election Workers from Threats | Samuel J. Robinson/MLive.com

A bill introduced by a Democratic Michigan House member aims to protect election workers from threats and intimidation. House Bill 5282, introduced by state Rep. Kara Hope, D- Holt, would make it illegal for individuals to harass election workers, punishing those who threaten or prevent workers from performing their duties with a misdemeanor charge with up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. Hope said a chaotic scene at Detroit’s TCF Center while election workers counted absentee ballots cast during the 2020 general election last November prompted her to craft the legislation. “Since the 2020 election, poll workers have been the targets of severe harassment and intimidation,” Hope said. “Republican and Democratic election officials alike are being terrorized by conspiracy theorists insisting that the election was stolen despite all evidence to the contrary. “It seems to me like that type of behavior — being disruptive, the bullying, the intimidation — is encouraged by a certain segment of the far-right. You saw it at the TCF Center, you see it now at school board meetings.” Hope said she sees some groups continue to encourage dangerous behavior over legitimate political activity, like organizing or voting. Full Article: Michigan Bill Would Protect Election Workers from Threats

Michigan GOP panel to consider proposal againstelection report author | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

A committee inside the Michigan Republican Party plans to consider Saturday a proposal that calls for the resignation of GOP state Sen. Ed McBroom, who led a probe finding no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. While Norm Shinkle, the chairman of the party's Issues Committee, says he will oppose the resolution, its introduction points to the continued rift within the Michigan GOP over former President Donald Trump's loss in November. The proposed resolution, obtained by The Detroit News, describes the Senate Oversight Committee's eight-month investigation into the 2020 election as "the product of gross official misconduct." The resolution primarily focuses on the Senate report's suggestion that Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel consider investigating individuals who pushed false claims about the election "to raise money or publicity for their own ends." "In the broader context of ongoing attacks against the American people’s right to free speech and the right to counsel, the report bolsters and encourages these attacks in a transparent attempt to intimidate and silence all citizens exposing the misconduct of election officials, challenging the results of the election and advocating for legal and policy remedies," the proposed resolution says.

Source: Michigan GOP panel to consider proposal against election report author

Michigan: ‘I feel afraid’: Detroit clerk Winfrey testifies to U.S. House panel on death threats she received | Melissa Nann Burke George Hunter/The Detroit News

Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey told a U.S. House panel on Wednesday that she and her election workers have received threats of violence as a result of false claims of a stolen election by former President Donald Trump, causing her to lose staff and to live in fear. Winfrey, in testimony before the House Administration Committee, compared her experience to what happened to members of Congress when pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. "Except they're coming to our homes, and they're making us very uncomfortable," Winfrey said. "Some of my colleagues have been shot at, simply because of what we do. All of us have been threatened — and because we're trying to represent our community," she added. "If it weren't for the work of local election officials, none of you would be here in this room. We just want to uphold democracy. We just want to ensure that every one votes. It is unfair. It's unfair that we're attacked for doing our job. I feel afraid." The threats against Detroit elections workers led to five of Winfrey's senior staff going on leave, and one who retired, she said. They didn’t come back until after the election was canvassed and certified, she added. "The overall climate at the Department of Elections is one of fear, almost," Winfrey said, noting that several staffers were hospitalized with COVID-19 after the election. "People are wanting to retire." The threats against Winfrey included a White man, whom she estimated at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, who approached her while she was walking in her neighborhood and accusing her of "cheating," telling her, "You are going to pay dearly for your actions in this election!" Winfrey, who is Black, described the man's manner as threatening, and that he was coming closer to her, telling her he had tracked her down at her home after waiting for her at her office.   Full Article: Winfrey testifies before House panel on threats to election workers

Michigan: Trump’s false election fraud claims fuel GOP meltdown | Nolan D. McCaskill/Politico

Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 150,000 votes in Michigan last November. Trump and the Michigan Republican Party still aren’t over it. The outcome — and the former president’s obsessive efforts to dispute it — has left the state party in disarray, raising questions about the GOP’s focus as it looks to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a top battleground state next year. “From a staff and leadership perspective, I don’t know that top-notch professionals would want to go into this quagmire,” said Jeff Timmer, a former Michigan GOP executive director who opposed Trump. “Unless you’re going to talk crazy talk, they don’t want you there.” Much of the trouble can be traced to the 2020 presidential election results, which Trump and his allies have alleged were marked by fraud without providing evidence.

  Full Article: Trump’s false election fraud claims fuel Michigan GOP meltdown - POLITICO

Michigan: Lawyers cite Trump’s election ‘suspicions’ in fight against sanctions | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Six lawyers facing sanctions in Michigan over their attempt to reverse the state's 2020 presidential election say "suspicions" about the vote in "the highest levels" of government are among the reasons they should not be penalized. Southfield attorney Donald Campbell, who's representing Sidney Powell and other lawyers in Detroit U.S. district court, filed a brief Monday, levying a variety of arguments for why Judge Linda Parker should deny motions for sanctions. The document came two weeks after the judge in Michigan's Eastern District held a high-profile, six-hour hearing on the subject. "In this case, the attorneys didn’t just have suspicions based merely on their own beliefs," Campbell wrote Monday. "They had evidence that those working at the highest levels of the United States government shared their suspicions. "That context makes this case exceptional — and it is a reason for the court to deny their defendants’ and intervenors’ requests for sanctions." Much of the debate has focused on whether the legal team that sought to have Trump named Michigan's winner properly vetted affidavits from individuals who claimed they witnessed wrongdoing in the election and other analyses they submitted to try to bolster their effort. Trump lost Michigan to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points. Despite unsubstantiated claims of fraud, a series of court rulings, dozens of audits by election officials and bipartisan boards of canvassers as well as an investigation by state Senate Republicans have reinforced the outcome.

  Full Article: Lawyers cite Trump's election 'suspicions' in fight against sanctions

Michigan sheriff enlists private eye to grill clerks in vote fraud probe | Jonathan Oosting/Bridge Michigan

A Michigan sheriff investigating the 2020 election is using a private investigator to question clerks, an unorthodox arrangement that baffles local officials in a region former President Donald Trump dominated last fall. Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, a Republican who plotted to seize voting machines after the November election and was in communication with allies to Trump at the time, is now working with a private investigator named Michael Lynch, a former security official for DTE Energy in Detroit. Leaf did not answer calls or respond to a text message from Bridge Michigan. The Hastings Banner newspaper reported that the sheriff said Lynch was recommended to him by Stefanie Lambert Junttila, a Detroit-area attorney facing potential sanctions related to the “Kraken” lawsuit that sought to overturn President Joe Biden’s election win. Lynch and a sheriff’s deputy have visited at least six township clerks, according to Barry County Clerk Pam Palmer, a Republican who criticized what she called a secretive investigation that has frightened local officials. “I was told by my clerks that they were told not to say anything to each other or to me,” Palmer recalled. “So I don’t know what (Leaf and his team) are trying to hide. I’m told by the investigator that they’re doing this under the element of surprise.”

Full Article: Michigan sheriff enlists private eye to grill clerks in vote fraud probe | Bridge Michigan

Michigan: Attorney appeals dismissal decision in Antrim County election lawsuit | Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle

An attorney for a local man who accused Antrim County of voter fraud is appealing a judge’s dismissal of an election-related lawsuit, records filed in 13th Circuit Court show. Matthew DePerno, who on Thursday announced his candidacy for Michigan Attorney General, filed the claim of appeal Wednesday on behalf of Bill Bailey, of Central Lake Township. Bailey filed suit Nov. 23, accusing the county of voter fraud and of violating his constitutional rights, after initial results of the 2020 Presidential election showed about 2,000 votes cast for then-President Donald Trump had mistakenly been assigned to then-challenger Joe Biden. Bailey acknowledged her office’s human error, an assertion backed by the state’s Senate Oversight Committee, which last month released a 55-page report rejecting claims of widespread election fraud in Antrim County and in Michigan. Bailey also accused the county of diluting his vote, after a marijuana proposal, allowing a single dispensary in the Village of Central Lake passed by a single vote. Records show Bailey is registered to vote in Central Lake Township, and only voters registered in the Village of Central Lake received ballots which included the marijuana proposal.

Source: Attorney appeals dismissal decision in Antrim election lawsuit | News | record-eagle.com

Michigan GOP official: Trump a ‘malignancy’ who spouts election ‘lies’ | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

One of two Republican members of Michigan's Board of State Canvassers blasted Donald Trump during a Tuesday meeting, calling the former president a "malignancy." Tony Daunt, who's also a member of the Michigan GOP's state committee, made the comments after a presentation by state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, whose Senate Oversight Committee led a seven-month investigation into the 2020 election and found no evidence of fraud. “I just want to thank you, the committee, for having the courage to do this report, to put the information out there without leaning on the scales, for having the courage to stand up against the malignancy that is Donald Trump and the people who have lacked the courage to stand up to him for the last six months," Daunt said to McBroom. Norm Shinkle, the other GOP member of the Board of State Canvassers, adjourned the meeting soon after Daunt's remark. The board is in charge of certifying election results in the state. After the meeting, Daunt, a longtime figure in GOP politics, said it's unfortunate that Trump continues to "spout lies" that the election was rigged. Democrat Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points. The state Senate's probe, dozens of court rulings and bipartisan boards of canvassers have reinforced the outcome despite unproven claims of fraud by the former president and his supporters.

Full Article: Michigan GOP official: Trump a 'malignancy' who spouts election 'lies'

Michigan: Federal judge grills Sidney Powell’s legal team in elections sanctions case | Clara Hendrickson and Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

A Michigan federal judge grilled Sidney Powell and her team of lawyers for roughly six hours Monday in response to motions to sanction the attorneys in connection with their conspiracy-laden lawsuit claiming election fraud in the state.  U.S. District Judge Linda Parker heard arguments from lawyers for Detroit and Michigan for sanctioning Powell and her team, but spent most of the hearing scrutinizing the baseless allegations of fraud and misconduct leveled in the lawsuit, which involved several attorneys, including three from Michigan: Scott Hagerstrom, Stefanie Lambert Junttila and Greg Rohl. Parker repeatedly questioned whether the attorneys properly investigated the claims of fraud and misconduct presented in affidavits included in the lawsuit before submitting them to the court. "My concern is that counsel here has submitted affidavits to suggest and make the public believe that there was something wrong with the election. And that is what this is all about. That's what these affidavits are designed to do, to show that there was something wrong in Michigan, there was something wrong in Wayne County," Parker said.  The lawyers largely could not say they spoke with the people who provided the affidavits, something that appeared of concern to Parker, who used phrases such as "shocks me," "a little surprising" and "problematic." "I think it's wrong for an affidavit to be submitted in support ... if there's been no kind of minimal vetting," Parker said.

Full Article: Federal judge grills Sidney Powell's legal team in elections sanctions case

Michigan Attorney General accepts GOP lawmaker’s request to investigate those peddling election lies | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

Michigan's chief law enforcement officer, along with state police, will launch an investigation into those who have allegedly peddled disinformation about the state's Nov. 3 election for their own financial gain. A Republican-led report that found no evidence of widespread fraud recommended the probe. The Michigan Senate Oversight Committee report, written by state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, and adopted by all the Republican members of the committee, called on the attorney general's office to consider investigating those "utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends." Since Nov. 4, when a human error led to an inaccurate report of Antrim County's unofficial election night results, the county that former President Donald Trump won with 61% of the vote has found itself at the heart of the false conspiracy theory that voting machines were intentionally designed to switch votes. After reviewing the oversight committee's report, the attorney general's office "accepted Sen. McBroom and the Committee's request to investigate," said Lynsey Mukomel, press secretary for Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel's office will be assisted by Michigan State Police, Mukomel said.

Full Article: Attorney General to investigate Antrim election fraud claims

Michigan sheriff sought to seize voting machines amid Trump claims | Jonathan Oosting/Bridge Michigan

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf last year tried to enlist fellow “constitutional sheriffs” to seize Dominion voting machines at the heart of an election conspiracy theory promoted by then-President Donald Trump, Bridge Michigan has learned. A trove of emails obtained by Bridge through the Freedom of Information Act indicate Trump had at least some law enforcement support in his bid to overturn the 2020 election won by Democratic President Joe Biden. Bridge obtained emails from Leaf that detail his unsuccessful efforts to obtain voting machines and inspect them. The records indicate that Leaf’s attorney provided updates on the effort to Trump allies including attorney Sidney Powell and a contact for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Leaf told Bridge in a brief interview that he worked with other Michigan sheriffs on what he called an “ongoing” matter after the election, but would not divulge specifics.

Full Article: Emails: Michigan sheriff sought to seize voting machines amid Trump claims | Bridge Michigan

A Michigan Republican Senator spent eight months searching for evidence of election fraud, but all he found was lies. | Tim Alberta/The Atlantic

Right around the time Donald Trump was flexing his conspiratorial muscles on Saturday night, recycling old ruses and inventing new boogeymen in his first public speech since inciting a siege of the U.S. Capitol in January, a dairy farmer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula sat down to supper. It had been a trying day. The farmer, Ed McBroom, battled sidewinding rain while working his 320 acres, loading feed and breeding livestock and at one point delivering a distressed calf backwards from its mother’s womb, before hanging the newborn animal by its hind legs for respiratory drainage. Now, having slipped off his manure-caked rubber boots, McBroom groaned as he leaned into his home-grown meal of unpasteurized milk and spaghetti with hamburger sauce. He would dine peacefully at his banquet-length antique table, surrounded by his family of 15, unaware that in nearby Ohio, the former president was accusing him—thankfully, this time not by name—of covering up the greatest crime in American history. A few days earlier, McBroom, a Republican state senator who chairs the Oversight Committee, had released a report detailing his eight-month-long investigation into the legitimacy of the 2020 election. The stakes could hardly have been higher. Against a backdrop of confusion and suspicion and frightening civic friction—with Trump claiming he’d been cheated out of victory, and anecdotes about fraud coursing through every corner of the state—McBroom had led an exhaustive probe of Michigan’s electoral integrity. His committee interviewed scores of witnesses, subpoenaed and reviewed thousands of pages of documents, dissected the procedural mechanics of Michigan’s highly decentralized elections system, and scrutinized the most trafficked claims about corruption at the state’s ballot box in November. McBroom’s conclusion hit Lansing like a meteor: It was all a bunch of nonsense.

Full Article: The Michigan Republican Who Decided to Tell the Truth - The Atlantic

Michigan: Calls for ‘forensic audit’ of election don’t have much merit, expert says | Arpan Lobo/The Holland Sentinel

Last week, a committee led by Republicans in the Michigan Senate published a report dismissing the idea of fraud in the November 2020 election. The investigation that led to the report rejected claims, mainly pushed by former President Donald Trump and allies, that widespread election fraud took place in Michigan, where Trump lost to President Joe Biden by around 3 percentage points, or 154,000 votes. Despite the report's release, there are still pushes to conduct additional audits of election machines in Michigan, or "forensic audits." But such a task would find little, if any merit of fraud and only further undermine confidence in elections, one national voting expert says. "A lot of the election-deniers have been falling back on this term 'forensic audit.' I think it's a really good question to ask them, 'Tell me exactly what a forensic audit means from your perspective,' because this term doesn't actually have meaning as most of these folks are using it," said David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, during a Wednesday media briefing. In Michigan, around 250 audits of local results in the 2020 election have been conducted. In March, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who oversaw the audit process, said the audits affirmed Michigan's election results as accurate. Still, there are calls for Michigan to complete a similar process to what took place in Arizona, where partisan officials inspected individual ballots for potential malfeasance, although multiple audits have already confirmed the election results in question.

Full Article: Calls for 'forensic audit' of don't have much merit, expert says

The most brutal debunking of Trump’s fraud claims yet — from Republicans | Aaron Blake/The Washington Post

The Republican Party’s response to former president Donald Trump and his allies’ wild, baseless claims of voter fraud has been anything but courageous. It’s been entirely clear most reputable members of the GOP are uncomfortable responding, often instead lodging watered-down or adjacent claims. Some Republicans have spoken out but generally only when forced to pick a side — such as when their state became the focus of Trump’s lies. But when the rubber has met the road, GOP lawmakers have routinely landed on one side: against Trump’s claims. Perhaps the starkest example of that came Wednesday, from a Republican-led state Senate committee in Michigan. A report from the Oversight Committee makes little mention of Trump, instead focusing on claims made by allies or general conspiracy theories about the vote count in Michigan. But the committee was brutal in statements on those claims, just about all of which can be traced to Trump in one way or another. The sum total is a broad, unsparing repudiation of Trump’s fraud claims in Michigan.

Full Article: A brutal Republican debunking of Trump's fraud claims - The Washington Post

Michigan Republicans reject Trump’s election claims but still act like they’re true | Susan Del Percio/NBC

Michigan Republicans enjoyed a dalliance with the truth last week. But unfortunately they couldn't make a lasting commitment. As well all know, Joe Biden won Michigan in the 2020 race; he was ahead by over 120,000 votes on Nov. 4, the day after the election. That then was certified by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers in a 3-0 vote on Nov 23. But the strong Biden showing didn’t stop then-President Donald Trump from falsely claiming widespread fraud in a lawsuit, which he dropped nine days after his campaign filed it. And just four days after the election, well before the certification, the Republican-led Michigan Senate Oversight Committee “commenced an inquiry into claims of election fraud and impropriety.” On Wednesday, after an eight-month investigation, the Oversight Committee thankfully concluded: “This Committee found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.” It said in its report, “Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan.”

Full Article: Susan Del Percio : Michigan Republicans reject Trump's election claims but still act like they're true

Michigan Republican-led investigation rejects Trump’s claim that Nov. 3 election was stolen | Clara Hendrickson Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

An investigation led by Michigan Republican lawmakers found no basis for claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, a Michigan Senate report released Wednesday concludes. The results of the inquiry by the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee, chaired by a Republican and comprised of a GOP majority, are the latest repudiation of conspiracies and lies revolving around Michigan's election results. "The Committee found no evidence of widespread or systemic fraud in Michigan's prosecution of the 2020 election," the report states. "Citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan." Months after his presidency ended with a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol and a second impeachment attempt, Trump continues to falsely assert that the election was stolen from him and has targeted Michigan's senators, among others, to uphold the lie. In a May 7 statement, Trump said Michigan's senators "should be run out of office" if they haven't "started their review of the Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020." But the Senate Oversight Committee launched its election inquiry nearly eight months ago, convening during a rare Saturday hearing at about the same time that major networks and other news organizations declared Joe Biden won the presidency.

Full Article: Michigan Senate investigation rejects Trump's claims of stolen election

Michigan: Election prompts support for Antrim County Clerk, report of no fraud and audit request | News | Mardi Link/Traverse City Record-Eagle

Hours after state Republican lawmakers released a report showing investigators found no evidence to support repeated claims made by former President Donald Trump of widespread election fraud in Michigan, a trio of county clerks stood on the lawn of the Antrim County Courthouse and pledged support of County Clerk Sheryl Guy. “When I heard the nonsense about Sheryl, I said this doesn’t even make sense,” Genesee County Clerk and former Democratic lawmaker John Gleason said, of the repeated criticisms lodged over Guy’s handling of the 2020 presidential election. “They were waiting to ambush somebody,” Gleason said. “And I think they were prepared, and I think that’s why they’ve done what they did to our nation’s capital and I think that’s what they’re doing to Sheryl.” Also in attendance were Muskegon County Clerk Nancy Waters and Midland County Clerk Ann Manary. “She is our Sheryl,” Waters said, praising Guy for showing her the ropes when she was first elected in 2009.

Full Article: Election prompts support for clerk, report of no fraud and audit request | News | record-eagle.com

Michigan Attorneys who sought to overturn election results in ‘Kraken’ lawsuit face sanction hearing  Gus Burns/MLive.com

Attorneys who filed what Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called a frivolous lawsuit in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election are facing backlash for their failed attempt. Both before and after the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Jan. 14 based on unfounded claims of election fraud, the Attorney General’s Office and attorneys who represented Detroit filed requests for U.S. District Judge Linda Parker to issue sanctions and fines against plaintiff attorneys, among them former Donald Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who vowed to “release the Kraken.” The “Kraken” is a term given to a monster octopus from Nordic folklore that was used by the conspiracy theory movement QAnon and others to describe a vague, multi-faceted plan to expose election fraud and reverse results of the presidential election. Parker on Thursday set a sanction hearing for July 6 in Detroit federal court. The attorneys facing possible discipline are: Michigan-based attorneys Stefanie Lambert Junttila, Scott Hagerstrom and Gregory J. Rohl, as well as Powell. “It was never about winning on the merits of the claims, but rather plaintiffs’ purpose was to undermine the integrity of the election results and the people’s trust in the electoral process and in government,” attorneys for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office wrote in a Jan. 28 request for sanctions. “The filing of litigation for that purpose is clearly an abuse of the judicial process and warrants the imposition of sanctions.”

Full Article: Attorneys who sought to overturn election results in Michigan ‘Kraken’ lawsuit face sanction hearing - mlive.com

Michigan: Cheboygan County board floats unproven theory of ‘manipulated’ election results | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

The board of commissioners in a Michigan county that former President Donald Trump easily won will consider Tuesday whether to formally request an audit of its election results, including whether an "unauthorized computer" manipulated the numbers. The Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners is contemplating sending Jonathan Brater, the state elections director, a letter seeking a hand recount of its ballots in the 2020 presidential race, according to a meeting packet posted on the county's website. The proposed letter says the audit should explore one of the ongoing and unproven conspiracy theories about the November vote: "whether there is any evidence that any unauthorized computer actually manipulated the actual presidential election vote tally within Cheboygan County." "As commissioners, we have heard from many of our constituents expressing concerns/questions related to the November 3, 2020 election," says the proposed letter from John Wallace, chairman of the county board. "We believe we have a responsibility to address these concerns/questions." The Republican-controlled board plans to consider whether to send the letter during a meeting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. It's unclear how the Michigan Bureau of Elections, which falls under the leadership of Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, would handle a potential audit request from Cheboygan County, a 25,000-person county at the top of the Lower Peninsula. A spokeswoman for Benson declined to comment Monday.

Full Article: Cheboygan County board floats unproven theory of 'manipulated' election results