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Two Republicans from the Wayne County, Michigan Election Certification Board want to cancel the decision to recognize the vote count the day before.
After a three-hour stalemate on November 17, two Republicans from the Wayne County Voter Certification Board agreed to vote to certify the results, a key step for Michigan to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the state. This is against his rival Donald Trump.
However, the two commissioners now announced that they wanted to withdraw their votes.
In a statement signed on the night of November 18, two Republicans from the Wayne County four-member Voter Certification Board allege they were pressured to certify the election results and impeach the party. Democracy fails to deliver on its vote-counting promises in Detroit.
Wayne County Election Certification Board meeting on November 17th. Image: Detroit News.
“I withdrew my old ballot,” Monica Palmer, Republican member and chair of the County Election Certification Board, wrote in the statement. “I strongly believe that Wayne County’s vote count should not be certified.”
William Hartmann, the other Republican on the committee, also signed a similar statement.
However, Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat and vice chairman of the council, said it was too late for the two to change their decisions, as the results of the certified vote count were sent to the secretary general in accordance with regulations. state. Kinloch also criticized the decision of the two Republicans.
“Do you understand how they are making us look? We have such a big and important role in the democratic process, and they are turning things upside down,” he said. talk.
At the heart of the council’s disagreement was a last-minute agreement between Kinloch and the two Republicans that election officials would verify the results in the Detroit region, where there are members of the Communist Party. Draw thinks that the number of votes does not match, that is, the number of votes received does not match the electoral roll.
Palmer and Hartmann said in their statement that Democrats had agreed to cross-check, but Michigan Secretary General Jocelyn Benson, who was part of the Democratic Party, later said she did not see this as a binding request.
“I feel cheated,” says Palmer. “I do not firmly certify the results from Wayne County without checks.”
However, Kinloch says Palmer and Hartmann are well aware of what they agreed to and the Wayne County Election Certification Board has yet to formally ask Secretary General Benson to conduct cross-checking. “Palmer knows that this agreement is not mandatory,” Kinloch said. “We just voted last night.”
Kinloch said he and Palmer exchanged text messages in the early morning of Nov. 18, in which he explained that the council agreed to the cross-check request. However, he said Palmer knew he could not contact Secretary General Benson directly on the night of November 17.
The two also discussed the need to prepare a joint letter to the Secretary General proposing a cross-examination.
Hours before signing the statement, Palmer said that what happened the night of November 17 moved her. After she initially voted against the certification of the results, many activists and vote counters flocked to the council, accusing Palmer and Hartmann of racism for suspecting the results of the vote count in the region. most of them are black voters like Detroit.
“What happened last night was heartbreaking,” Palmer said. “I sat in a chair for two hours, listening to people tell me that I was a racist.” She said she never intended to be a racist, but her efforts were embroiled in curses that night, as well as death threats directed against her and her family.
After Palmer and Hartmann filed their calls to cancel the vote, Kinloch accused the two members of “being subjugated” to pressure from Republicans and the White House, who were launching a major legal campaign to reverse election results.
Earlier, Trump supporters had attacked the decision to certify election results in Wayne County. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, describes the criticism directed at Palmer and Hartmann as “the rule of the crowd.”
In today’s interview, Palmer refutes this. “It’s not the rule of the crowd. We have a lot of pressure to validate the results, but we don’t give up. We just voted unanimously on the promise of cross-checking.”
He also said he was not looking to “delay the inevitable,” referring to the lawsuit effort Republicans are making to change things. “We always know that the vote gap is too big and this is not going to change the result.”
Kinlock criticized recent moves by Republicans to change the results of the vote count. “They are playing with the votes and the will of the people,” he said.
Flee him (According to the Washington Post)
