Michigan GOP state senators demand full audit of 2020 election results

Libby Emmons
The Post Millennial
Thu, 12 Nov 2020 21:14 UTC

GOP state senators Lana Theis and Tom Barrett

Republican state senators in Michigan have asked for a full audit of that state's general election results. In a letter delivered to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, GOP state senators Lana Theis and Tom Barrett requested that a "full audit be conducted of the 2020 election prior to the certification of any results."

Their letter detailed the allegations of a "glitch" in Antrim County, which "caused thousands of Michigan ballots that were meant for some candidates to be wrongly counted for their opposing candidates." Theis and Barrett note that while this issue was corrected, it may have been accidentally replicated in other counties.

Theis and Barrett also make note of the now controversial Dominion Voting Systems, writing that the secretary of state in Texas had specifically refused to certify those systems for use in that state because the examiner "could not verify that the system was 'safe from fraudulent or unauthorized manipulation.'" They note that this brings the efficacy of Dominion's voting software into question for Michigan's use, as well.

Additional allegations and concerns raised by the two GOP state senators are that ineligible ballots may have been counted, that some batches of ballots may have been counted more than once, that poll workers were instructed to "backdate absentee ballots," that those late ballots were then counted as though they had been properly dated, that false information was used during ballot processing, such as identifying characteristics like birthdays.

They noted concerns over duplicate ballots, ballots that were counted despite the name on the ballot not being on official voter rolls, that election workers were "ordered" not to match ballot signatures with voter registrations, that poll observers were disallowed from doing their job, and that voters were coached on who and what party to cast their ballot for.

Theis and Barrett also have concerns about the security surrounding the ballots, saying that they were handled "outside of sealed ballot boxes, without any chain of custody, and without envelopes." These ballots are alleged to have included some 40,000 that "arrived Wednesday morning from out-of-state vehicles," which was "after officials said all ballots had already arrived."

"All of these ballots," Theis and Barrett write, "were allegedly for one candidate."

Voter intimidation, interference with "lawful election challengers and poll watchers," is also alleged. Theis and Barrett claim that additional concerns regard "harassment of challengers tolerated or perpetrated by election officials," as well as "arbitrary and unequal treatment."

Theis and Barrett have backed up these allegations by "sworn affidavits of over 100 Michigan citizens, real people," who are willing to stand behind their assertions despite legal or social cost.

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

"Every legal vote must be counted," they write before signing off.

Michigan is one of the battleground states during the 2020 election that has been hotly contested by both the Trump and Biden campaigns. Michigan has 16 electoral votes.

Comment: In other words, pretty much everything shady that could have happened seems to have happened. Total sham of an 'election.'

Michigan attorney David Kallman has also urged an audit on behalf of poll challengers Cheryl Costantino and Edward McCall:

... election officials allowed various fraudulent processing of votes, including telling poll workers to backdate ballots, not verify signatures on absentee ballots, ignore signature mismatches, and push through ballots despite questionable validity.

The lawsuit includes sworn affidavits from several witnesses attesting to alleged election fraud. During the hearing on Wednesday, Kallman said they were currently seeking (pdf) a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to block the certification of the election, an order for an independent audit of the results, and a protective order to "preserve and protect all evidence relevant to this case."

The complaint filed earlier this week also asks for an order to void the Nov. 3 election results and a new election to be held.

Today a MI judge denied this request to halt the certification process, accepting the defense's argument that it is not the court's role to intervene in the process at this point (he also said the defendants "offered a more accurate and persuasive explanation" for the activity observed during counting). An audit at this time can only be called by the MI secretary of state.

In the words of one poll watcher, Edward McCall, who filed his own lawsuit:

A group of "extremely confrontational" poll observers "constantly" accosted the Republican watchers, hindering their ability to focus on observing the ballot count and checking for errors, Edward McCall told The Epoch Times.

"It was constant; it was unbelievable. The level of hostility and distraction, and just asking questions and staring at me from a couple of feet away ... it was shocking," he said in an interview.

McCall is one of two plaintiffs in a Nov. 9 lawsuit (pdf) alleging "numerous issues of fraud and misconduct" at the TCF Center in downtown Detroit, the facility that counts all the absentee ballots for Wayne County. McCall worked as a poll watcher there from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4.

On Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, poll workers "would hold papers in such a way as to block out view of the ballots," McCall wrote in an affidavit seen by The Epoch Times.

He also experienced what he called "challenger challengers," who "seemed to be there for the purpose of challenging us," he wrote. The group, composed of 10 to 12 people, appeared to be coordinated by a man wearing an earpiece, and they constantly tried to prevent the Republican poll watchers from voicing issues, McCall said. They "always or almost always challenged the 6-foot [social distancing] rule," frequently asking "Is there a problem here?" when he and others tried to view a ballot, even if they had maintained a reasonable distance, he said.

"I'm convinced that there was a conscious effort to disrupt what we were trying to do as challengers, and it was very, very disconcerting," he said.

At one point, six people walked up to him in succession over a 45-minute-interval and accused him of standing too close, even though he had permission from a supervisor named Diane to stand there. When he refused to leave, one woman walked off to tell another person and pointed toward him, McCall recalled.

"I believe their entire purpose was to distract me from doing the challenging operation until they could get some ballots processed," he said.