| Detroit Free Press
Trump acknowledged Biden’s ‘win’ election in a tweet, but refused to accept
Admission to Twitter was quickly followed by a tweet that was about to double that he doesn’t really accept.
After what was an unprecedented 2-2 hurdle on racial lines, the board unanimously voted to certify the results late Tuesday night after two Republican members of the Wayne County Board Can F Canvassers voted against certifying the county’s November election results.
The board called on Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, to conduct an independent comprehensive audit of all county jurisdictions, noting a vague discrepancy between the number of absentee ballots registered as cast and the number of absentees. Counting of votes
All four members of the board unanimously endorsed An Gust’s primary election certificate, which also contained vague discrepancies.
After an early vote against certifying election results, the committee’s Republican chairperson, Monica Palmer, said it would be open to certifying election results for Detroit and some other jurisdictions, not just Detroit.
But Chris Thomas, a former election director for Michigan who serves as special adviser to Detroit City clerk Janice Winfrey, responded, “I think that’s absurd. I think this would make a mockery of the situation. ”
The public remarks he made during the meeting accused Republican members of the board of depriving hundreds of thousands of voters – especially African-American voters – of the right to vote.
Jonathan Kinoloch, the board’s Democratic vice chair, accused Republicans of playing politics instead of fulfilling their legal obligation to certify results. “I believe politics has its presence today,” Kinoloch said. “This is reckless and irresponsible action by the board,” he added. Alan Wilson, a member of the Democratic board, agreed. “I’m really upset sitting here today,” he said.
The board consists of four members – two Democrats and two Republicans.
Minutes after Republicans voted against certifying the results, the Michigan Republican Party released a statement from state party president Laura Cox.
“I’m proud that, thanks to the efforts of the Michigan Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, and the Trump campaign, enough evidence of malpractice and potential voter fraud was found, resulting in the Wayne County Board of Canvassers refusing to certify their election results,” Cox said.
Lavora Barnes, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, called the opening vote “an outrageous display of partisanship.” He added, “Monica Palmer and William Hartman have chosen to tarnish their personal legacy by raising the GOP banner of making accusations without any evidence.” Not only that, but there is a complete delay in duty. “
Palmer filed a moral complaint against him in October, accusing him of conflict of interest. The complaint accuses Palmer of running a “dark-money PAC” to promote candidates for the Gross Point Education Board of Education, which oversees the election, and vows to step down from the board. The Women’s County Ethics Board will meet Wednesday to discuss the complaint against Palmer.
Tuesday was the last day the board would be able to certify the county’s election results. The unanimous vote to certify the results comes in time for the board to meet the state’s timeline.
Legal challenges have mounted in the wake of the election and there has been a greater focus on audit dit and certification of results conducted by each county’s Canvassers Board, a process that usually draws relatively little attention. The Canvasers meeting board’s Zoom Call was initially limited to 100 participants, but was later expanded to accommodate more than 300 participants.
The meeting was asked to place an order about two hours late at: 4 p.m., as members waited for affidavits filed by individuals present at the TCF Center, where Detroit election activists acted and counted absent ballots cast by city voters. Did.
A request from the Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday morning sought to restrain the court from issuing a certificate of election results before its scheduled meeting at 3 p.m. The court did not grant leave for appeal before the board members met.
Detroit Mayor Mike Doug celebrated the vote unanimously to certify the county’s election results. He said every court on the results of the Detroit election has ruled that Trump’s erroneous claims were baseless. “It would be a historically shameful act if the Canvassers’ Board had exempted 1 million voters from partisan politics from partisan politics. In the end, it would be a pleasure to see common sense prevail.”
Protesters, including the Metro Detroit Action Council, a local community organization that focuses on economic and racial injustice, gathered outside the building where the Canvassers met, and demanded that the board certify the election results.
Progressive Michigan, executive director of the Progressive Advocacy Institute, Lonnie Scott, also called on Republican board members to certify the previous election on Tuesday.
“No canvassing board has ever refused to certify the election. The refusal to certify the results is just a partisan attempt to prolong the process, feed Trump’s lies about our election, and seize the power of the right wing that ignores the wishes of the people.” Said in a press release.
Wayne County’s unofficial election results, released Nov. 5, show that former Vice President Joe Biden received 587,074 votes – 67.99% of the votes cast for president in Wayne County – while President Donald Trump received 264,149 or 30.59%.
Trump has refused to accept Biden’s fight for the presidency and has made unsatisfactory claims that the election was rigged. Trump’s campaign and Republican challengers have filed lawsuits across the country to fight the election.
More: The state began releasing election records in response to the legislative oversight subpena
More: Pro-Trump forces spin the legal wheel in challenging Michigan election results
In six Michigan lawsuits seeking to delay or withhold the state’s 16-vote certificate for Biden, DCTROT’s election activists have focused on three days of processing and counting of absentee ballots provided by city voters at the TCF Center. Legal lawsuits filed following the election allege that thousands of invalid ballots have been counted by Detroit election activists.
The lawsuit is largely based on allegations by Republican challengers that Detroit election activists counted ballots cast by ineligible voters, as well as differences that arrived before the return deadline. Republican challengers have also claimed that they were prepared by election activists to gain access to the counting center when the capacity of the room was reached, although officials noted that all party challenges were prevented from re-entering due to capacity limitations. The claim has so far been rejected in court.
The two lawsuits were dismissed by Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Kenny. On Friday, Kenny rejected a lawsuit filed by David Calman on behalf of two Wayne County voters, writing in his opinion that the lawsuit presents a false account of what happened at TCF. On Monday, Cullen asked the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s ruling. After a three-judge panel rejected the request, Culman asked the Michigan Supreme Court to take immediate action and order a separate election date to prevent the Wine County Board of Canvassers from certifying the election results Tuesday morning.
Republican board members cited inconsistent discrepancies
While auditing the August preliminary election results, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers found that there was no explanation for the small discrepancy between the number of absentee ballots registered in the 303 dimensions of the city in Det3 – approximately Det૨% of the Detroit area. As cast and counting of absentee ballots. This election, the city’s 134 absentee counting boards – 94 of which – about 70% of Detroit’s absentee counting boards – reported vague discrepancies. But Detroit was not the only jurisdiction in this election that reported vague discrepancies in this election.
In Detroit’s 303 election-day polls, a total of 66 undisclosed discrepancies were reported from 94 of the city’s 144 absentee counting boards. Most election days and absentee voter counting boards that were not in “balance” recorded an anomaly of three votes or less. Ten election day completion and ab 43 absent voter counting boards recorded four or more dissenting votes or more. The discrepancies amounted to about 367 votes. Detroit’s unofficial election results show that about 150,000 Detroiters voted in the November election.
Under Michigan election law, a comparison that is not in “equilibrium” is disqualified from participating in the recount, and the election results are originally reported by a fixed stand as final.
Shortly after certifying the county’s preliminary results, Kinoloch told the Free Press that the board “did not see any evidence of individuals voting that were not considered.” Instead, election officials drew attention to voter records that were not constantly updated to indicate whether voters returned absentee ballots, as well as to clarify discrepancies in differences that were placed in containers with incorrect boundaries.
Speaking after the primary, Palmer told the Free Press that repeating the mistakes in November would be a disaster. “We cannot repeat what happened in the primary in November. “It absolutely can’t happen,” he said.
August. On the 18th, the board passed a resolution asking the state election department to investigate the absentee voter counting board action for election workers and training for election workers working to count absentee ballots cast by city voters. The resolution also called on Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to appoint a monitor to oversee the city’s election worker training and absentee voter counting boards.
In early September, Benson announced that it was partnering with Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey to ensure the integrity of the city’s absentee ballet tabulation. Chris Thomas, a former election director, was brought in to serve as Winfrey’s special adviser.
Palmer and Hartman were not happy with the result. Walking between Palmer and Kinoloch during the meeting, Kinoloch told Palmer that in November he drew attention to the discrepancies in Detroit’s August Gust primary and noted similar errors, including “apple and orange comparisons” after the November election saw unprecedented. Number of absentee votes.
What happens next?
The state board canvassers have until Nov. 23 to certify Michigan’s statewide election results. Counting requests for President, Senate, U.S. House and State House seats must be filed with the Secretary of State within hours, after the board certifies the statewide results.
In order to change Michigan’s recount process after the 201st presidential election, candidates need to prove that they have a fair chance to win to begin the recount. Biden defeated Michigan by a wide margin – showing unofficial state results. Legal experts said they expect the state board to meet the deadline to certify the results of the presidential race despite lawsuits seeking to delay the Can F canvases process.
If legal disputes related to the election are resolved by December 8, the statewide certified results are free from any further legal challenge and Congress must accept them as final. Michigan’s 16th presidential election is set to be called for Dec. 14 to get the state’s Electoral College College led vote.
Clara Hendrickson examines Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of the Groundtruth Project. For comments or to suggest a fact-check, contact Clara at chandrixnonfreepress.com or 313-296-5743.
