Capitol News

Two GOP state senators hand-delivered an audit request to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

Joe Biden led Donald Trump by 146,123 votes in Michigan as of the last available count.

In the recount request State Sens. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) and Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) first pointed to improperly functioning voter machines as a reason to more closely investigate the vote.

“[I]n Antrim County, a ‘glitch’ caused thousands of Michigan ballots that were meant for some candidates to be wrongly counted for their opposing candidates,” the letter reads. “While this issue was identified and corrected after observers flagged the unlikeliness of the outcomes, it is unclear whether this issue replicated itself elsewhere. Antrim is just one of 47 counties in Michigan that used the software system at issue, Dominion Voting Systems, to process their ballots.”

Glitches in Dominion’s voting software came to light after highly Republican Antrim County turned in results showing Joe Biden had won the county.

Machines that stopped working, resulting in delays, were reported in Wayne County.

Dominion, the country’s second largest voting machine company, has voting machines in Georgia and Nevada as well.

Georgia is undergoing a hand audit. In Clark County, Nevada, the Trump campaign’s request for a recount was rejected.

“This is particularly concerning when at least one other Secretary of State, specifically in Texas, refused to certify Dominion Voting Systems for use because the examiner could not verify that system was ‘safe from fraudulent or unauthorized manipulation,’” Theis and Barrett wrote. “This raises the questions over whether there are fundamental flaws in the software itself.”

The senators also nodded to a lawsuit filed on behalf of observers taking part in the Detroit elections.

In that case GOP poll watchers and a City of Detroit worker alleged widespread abuses.

“There are allegations of illegal and official intimidation and interference with lawful election challengers and poll watchers, which is an essential aspect of elections integrity,” Theis and Barrett wrote. “With limited audio or visual recordings in place ... poll watchers and challengers from both sides of the aisle are the on-the-ground accountability mechanism. Disrupting their access and preventing them from fulfilling their legal right and responsibilities is an infringement on the election process.”

A total of 5.4 million Michiganders took part in the election, setting a record for voter turnout.

A hotline, Election2020Unmasked.com, was set up by The Star News Network to record voter complaints.

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See the full text of the letter below:

Jocelyn Benson

Michigan Secretary of State

430 W. Allegan Street

Lansing, MI 48918

**HAND DELIVERED**

As you are aware, the general Election currently being conducted in the State of Michigan has generated a great deal of interest and concern among the people of Michigan, with a record number of over 5.4 million Michiganders participating in the electrical process.

Every citizen deserve to have faith in the integrity of the election process and its outcome. It is our responsibility, as elected public servants, to assure the people of Michigan of the process’s integrity through complete transparency and the faithful investigation of any allegations of wrongdoing, fraud, or abuse.

Unfortunately, a number of serious allegations have been made which cannot and should not be ignored.

First, in Antrim County, a “glitch” caused thousands of Michigan ballots that were meant for some candidates to be wrongly counted for their opposing candidates. While this issue was identified and corrected after observers flagged the unlikeliness of the outcomes, it is unclear whether this issue replicated itself elsewhere. Antrim is just one of 47 counties in Michigan that used the software system at issue, Dominion Voting Systems, to process their ballots. This is particularly concerning when at least one other Secretary of State, specifically in Texas, refused to certify Dominion Voting Systems for use because the examiner could not verify that system was “safe from fraudulent or unauthorized manipulation.” This raises the questions over whether there are fundamental flaws in the software itself.

Second, there are allegations that election officials critically mishandled numerous ballots, including:

• counted ineligible ballots;

• counted the same batches of ballots multiple times;

• instructed poll workers to backdate absentee ballots;

• counted late ballots after illicitly pre-dating them;

• used false information to process ballots, such as using incorrect or false birthdays and inserted new names into the QVF and recorded these new voters as having a birthdate of 1/1/1900;

• accepted ballots deposited in the drop boxes after the deadline;

• duplicated ballots illegally

• counted ballots even though the voter’s name did not appear in the official voter rolls;

• ordered election workers to not verify voters’ signatures on absentee ballots;

• barred poll challengers from observing the transposition and certification of absentee ballot that need to be transposed, including military ballots; and

• coached voter to vote for a particular candidate and party

Third, there are allegations that unsecured ballots arrive at the TCF Center loading garage, outside of sealed ballot boxes, without a chain of custody, and without envelopes. According to the allegation, this included a batch of 40,000 ballots that arrived early Wednesday morning from out-of-state vehicles after officials said ballots had already arrived. All of these new ballots were allegedly for one candidate.

Finally, there are allegations of illegal and official intimidation and interference with lawful election challengers and poll watchers, which is an essential aspect of elections integrity. With limited audio or visual recordings in place, to protect the eyes and ears of poll watchers and challengers from both sides of the aisle are the on the ground accountability mechanism. Disrupting their access and preventing them from fulfilling their legal right and responsibilities is an infringement on the election process. The allegations include:

• harassment of challengers gets tolerated or perpetrated by election officials;

• arbitrary and unequal treatment of challengers;

• refusal to record challengers to their process; and

• removal of challengers from the site if they politely voiced a challenge

Each of these allegations is backed up by sworn affidavits of over 100 Michigan citizens, real people, willing to face legal consequences to their lives and livelihoods to stand by their assertions.

As such, and due directly to these issues, we are requesting a full audit be conducted of the 2020 General Election prior to the certification of any results.

Now, we must take every possible step to ensure that all Michiganders, and all Americans, have confidence that the State of Michigan conducted this election with integrity and accuracy. That can be best accomplished by a thorough audit and a verification that hour election lawn and process were correctly administered. Any fraudulently processed votes and unfair obstacles placed n front of legal poll challengers and watchers disenfranchise lawful voter of every citizen of Michigan, regardless of their political affiliation.

Every legal vote must be counted.

Sincerely,

Lana Theis

State Senator

22nd District

Tom Barrett

State Senator

24th District