Michigan Absentee Voting - How The Demons Of Detroit Cast Stolen Ballots For Election Clerks

"Bring me more absentee ballots."

Jocelyn Benson is having what I like to call a cognitive dissonance moment, where she is lounging in her warm bath of denial, covered in an aromatic effervescence of a bubbly glow, for having won her election through absentee voting fraud in Detroit and has yet to get caught.

Janice Winfrey has her own demons, as well as a rogue ass crew with their own slithering black souls.

Speaking of slithering black souls, where is Fat Ass?

Clerks facing challenges with absentee voting skyrocketing in Michigan elections

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said citizens must also contribute to election security by guarding against the "hacking of their minds" through the spreading of fear or propaganda. Wochit, Wochit

With absentee voting skyrocketing since voters approved a ballot proposal  last year allowing for its expansion, clerks across the state are worrying about counting ballots next year, when a record turnout is expected for the presidential race.

Some clerks and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson are calling on the state to allow election officials to be able to open and prepare absentee ballots for counting — and maybe even begin tabulating — votes before Election Day.

Opponents worry that early processing and counting could lead to more voter fraud because ballots could be less secure until they're ready to be counted. They're also concerned that results could leak out and have a chilling effect on voters who haven't cast ballots yet.

In the August primary and November general election, when city leadership races and police and parks millages were at stake, absentee voting in some communities was as high as 82%. Hot races drew a record number of absentee voters: 

• In Warren,  51.2% of the votes came from absentee voters, who provided the winning margin for Mayor Jim Fouts' reelection last week. 
• In Westland, where seven candidates were vying for four City Council seats, 67% of the voters cast absentee ballots last week. 
• In Rochester Hills, where six people were running for two seats on the City Council, 82% of voters chose the absentee route during the August primary. 

Thirty other states and Washington D.C. have rules and laws in place that allow for election officials to at least begin processing absentee ballots and, in some cases, counting the votes, before Election Day. This eases the load on Election Day and allows for quicker release of results after the polls close.

Under Michigan law, election officials aren't allowed to process or count ballots until Election Day.

Local clerks seeing big changes in voting habits

Local clerks began seeing the impact of Proposal 3, allowing anyone to vote by absentee ballot, in the first election of the year in May.

But the August primary and the November 5 election results confirmed their suspicion that elections in Michigan have changed forever.

“In August, 82% of the ballots we issued were voted by absentee,” said Rochester Hills city clerk Tina Barton. “On Tuesday (Nov. 5), more than 50% were absentee and I’m anticipating in March (for the presidential primary), we’ll be back to the higher number.”

In statewide November elections in 2014, 2016 and 2018, absentee voting rates ranged from 25.4% to 26.5%. While the state doesn't keep a tally in municipal elections, cities across the state reported absentee vote totals from last week's election at 50% or higher.

Coupled with a new provision that allows people to register to vote, and cast ballots, up through Election Day, clerks are worried about how to cope with the more labor-intensive duties on Election Day.

In Warren, where a highly contested race for mayor attracted a higher than normal turnout, 51.2% cast absentee ballots.

“Our permanent absentee voter list went from 12,000 to 21,000 people and that number could double for the presidential election next year,” Warren city clerk Sonja Buffa said.

Warren election workers began counting the absentee ballots at 8 a.m. and didn't finish until 11 p.m.  It's a labor intensive process that requires ballots to be removed from envelopes, unfolded, flattened and fed through a ballot tabulator.

"I think it will eventually even out and I’ll need less people at the polls and more at AV board," Buffa said. "But for now, I like to have six people at each of the precincts and at least 50 people counting absentee ballots."

In Westland, 67% of the 8,638 voters who cast ballots chose the absentee route. And that wasn’t a surprise for Clerk Richard LeBlanc.

“One of the things that I did when I first was elected was an outreach effort because we had 11,000 people over 60 who weren’t permanent absentee voters,” he said. “We went from slightly over 4,000 on our permanent AV list to 11,000. So, we’ve had the benefit of a couple of years of a higher volume.”

And 2020 is only going to be bigger. The last four presidential cycles have recorded turnouts of at least 63% in Michigan.

"While we don't make specific predictions, we’re expecting a surge in turnout next year, because a lot of people are watching and are excited about this coming election," said Myrna Perez, the director of Voting Rights and Elections at the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based organization that advocates, in part, for equal and fair access to voting. "We're telling election workers they need to be prepared."

Michiganders wanted easier access to the polls

The surge in absentee voting comes after Michigan voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot proposal in 2018 that expanded access to voting in several ways. The proposal:

• Allowed all voters to vote by absentee ballot without having to provide an excuse. Previously, voters had to use one of six reasons to be eligible for absentee ballots — 60 or older, out of town on Election Day, being a poll worker, being unable to vote without assistance at the polls, in jail awaiting arraignment or trial; unable to vote in person because of religious reasons;
• Allowed voters to register to vote, and cast ballots, up through Election Day. Before Proposal 3, people couldn’t register to vote in the 30 days before an election.
• Restored straight-ticket voting, which allows voters to fill in one box on the ballot to vote for all Republicans or Democrats.

The sentiment behind the “Promote the Vote” ballot proposal was to make it easier for people to cast ballots and to perhaps increase participation in elections.

Turnout this month was up slightly in Wayne and Macomb counties compared with the comparable election four years ago, but down slightly in Oakland County.

Macomb County Clerk Fred Miller can’t say yet whether the increase in absentee voting was a factor for the turnout uptick.

“We had a couple of really high-interest races in some communities,” he said, pointing to the Warren mayor’s race and millages in Washington Township. “I think it will take a couple of election cycles to figure it out.”

Charles Stewart III, who runs the election data and science lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said there’s little evidence that easier access to absentee voting increases turnout in big election years, such as the 2016 or upcoming 2020 presidential elections.

“Where it does increase turnout is for elections of lower interest, like school board elections, bond issues or municipal elections,” he said. “Those are areas where, when you have a permanent absentee voter list, you can double turnout in those elections pretty easily.”

Clerks say proposals for help not adequate

Lawmakers are looking at ways to ease the burden on local clerks. Bills have been introduced that would mandate local clerks create permanent absentee voter lists that would be used to mail out applications for absentee ballots.

The bills also would make it easier to consolidate precincts as more people choose the absentee voting route and allow clerks to use more unconventional locations for polling precincts, since some locations such as schools are no longer allowing elections officials to use their buildings for precincts.

But that’s not nearly enough for many clerks who have to balance the need for maintaining the integrity of the election with reporting results in a timely manner.

Clinton Township Clerk Kim Meltzer told lawmakers last month that 16,000 voters cast absentee ballots in the August election and it took her election workers until 2:30 a.m. to get those ballots counted.

“And now we’re anticipating even more of an increase in 2020,” she said. “Even if it’s just three hours more, that’s taking us to 5 a.m. and it’s mostly older people processing the ballots.

“With sleep deprivation, mistakes are more likely at that point,” she added. “We want to provide quick results, but not at the expense of the integrity of the process.”

Some clerks are calling on the state to allow election officials to be able to at least open and prepare absentee ballots for counting before Election Day.

Barton takes it a step further and said that clerks should be allowed to run absentee ballots through voting tabulators before Election Day, making sure that no vote totals are tallied until the polls close at 8 p.m. on election night.

“We can start counting early, putting ballots through tabulators. Or Virginia has a preparation process, getting the ballots in stacks and ready to go, but not tabulated,” she said. “It’s like chopping all the vegetables the night before for Thanksgiving dinner.”

Other states are doing it. Oregon is one of three states — the others are Washington and Colorado — that does all of its voting by mail and begins running ballots through tabulators before Election Day.

Michigan was the latest state to allow for no-reason absentee voting, joining 30 other states that let voters fill out and turn in their ballots before Election Day. Another 19 states require a specific excuse for absentee voting.

Some clerks and lawmakers are skeptical of early voting, though, and are concerned that results might leak out before all voters cast their ballots.

"I’m not totally comfortable with the idea of counting ahead of time," said Macomb's Miller, noting it's a decision that local clerks will have to make. "I’d be afraid that there would be unintended, maybe chilling consequences."

Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, is the former Secretary of State and said that because 1,520 city and township local clerks run elections in Michigan, instead of the 83 county clerks, there is too much room for error.

"The biggest concern is how do you sequester and keep the integrity of those ballots," she said. "We have had people, clerks that have fiddled with ballots and they were caught,"

But Stewart said there are ways of managing those concerns.

"You can make a distinction between getting ready to scan and actually scanning the ballots. There are ways of opening envelopes and putting them in secure batches and coming back on Election Day," he said. "And the fact is that there are administrative controls for early voting, so the results aren’t leaking out ahead of time."

It's a system that Benson also has endorsed. She told lawmakers earlier this year that she wants clerks to be able to start counting ballots four days before Election Day.

"This will help ensure they are able to provide accurate election results as soon as possible following the close of polls on Election Day itself, while reducing the possibility for counting errors that occur when you're trying to count a significant number of ballots in a short period of time," she told the House Elections and Ethics committee.

The surge in absentee voters remains one of Benson's biggest concerns about the 2020 election and beyond, she told a Senate Elections panel on Oct. 30.

"Citizens are going to be voting by mail in increasing numbers more than ever before and we need to be prepared for it," she said. "If you educate voters and give them the opportunity to vote by mail, they will take advantage of that."

In the meantime, some clerks are using advanced technology to speed the process of counting absentee ballot. Many communities are using high-speed tabulators to more efficiently count ballots and Westland's LeBlanc has an envelope-opening machine that also cuts down the time it takes to get ballots counted.

Right to register and vote on Election Day causing headaches, too

Voters also are taking the advantage of new law to register to vote in the month before an election.

In last week's election, more than 2,000 people registered to vote in the 14 days before the election, including 1,000 who registered and voted on Election Day, according to preliminary figures from the Secretary of State. One-third of those registering on Election Day were 18-21 years old.

"We’re optimistic that next year we’ll see even more people, particularly young people, take advantage of this opportunity and our democracy will be better for it," Benson said.

And that's also creating additional challenges for clerks, especially on Election Day, when most workers are tied up with running the actual election.

"We had three people register on Election Day," LeBlanc said. "I knew a mother and daughter who came in and I said 'happy birthday,' to the daughter. She looked at me and said, 'It's not my birthday,' and I said it had to be her birthday if she was coming in to register on Election Day."

Barton said there were only about four people who registered to vote in Rochester Hills on Election Day.

"But that’s time-consuming, so we have to hire multiple employees for that, too," she said. "Elections are kind of like Christmas — they’re exciting, they're expensive. Some people are naughty, some are nice. And they’re full of surprises."

Additional election resources are scarce

As with many public policy issues, much of the concern revolves on having enough resources to get the job done.

Benson asked lawmakers for an additional $3 million to help with the new voting laws, including purchasing more high-speed tabulators for clerks. But lawmakers made no promises.

"Lawmakers need to better resource election administrators so they can handle these voting surges adequately," said Perez of the Brennan Center. "Americans have the best democracy in the world and we don’t want to pay for it. It's not cheap to run elections well."

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote©

Another Detroit Absentee Voting Rights Challenge Goes Unchallenged, Again

How much do you want to bet those addresses were Detroit Land Bank Authority vacant properties?

Besides, it is not the first time Detroit absentee ballots have been used to manipulate an election.

And you know what they say, "If you cannot find the evidence, then there is no challenge to challenge."

I bet my #Superfans can find the evidence, if they have not already done so, just saying.

Judge shoots down challenge to Detroit absentee vote count

Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey

A Wayne County judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Detroit city clerk Janice Winfrey, saying there’s “no evidence” her office mishandled absentee ballots or violated state law in last week’s general election.

The lawsuit was brought by election challengers who said Winfrey’s office used copies of absentee vote envelopes, rather than original envelopes with ballots, to verify voter information for about 1200 absentee votes dropped off at the clerk’s office on Election Day.

The plaintiffs said that violated the state manual for elections officials, as well as state law.

They worried that conducting the verification process for absentee votes—which involves matching signatures on returned ballots with ballot applications, and checking the voter’s name against precinct records and the state’s Qualified Voter File—entirely behind closed doors opened the process up to potential fraud.

The plaintiffs asked the court to disqualify all absentee ballots from the vote count, claiming it’s now impossible to determine which ballots were verified using copies and which weren’t.

But in arguments before Judge Robert Colombo on Friday, city of Detroit lawyer James Noseda, arguing on Winfrey’s behalf, called suggestions of fraud “outrageous.”

“There’s just no basis for this challenge, nothing of substance to address,” he said. Noseda told the court that Winfrey’s office verified absentee voter information themselves before sending ballots onto Cobo Center for counting.

Daniel Baxter, Detroit’s director of elections, said the clerk’s office followed the same procedure in this year’s primary election and found it sped up the vote-counting process. That helped “to ensure what happened in 2016 [Detroit general election] never occurs again, in terms of the delayed result reporting from the absentee voting counting boards,” he said.

Colombo ruled that was appropriate. He said that state election law gives clerks leeway to create “processing steps tailored to administrative needs,” and the plaintiffs provided “no evidence” that fraud had actually occurred.

Given that lack of evidence, Colombo balked at the idea at throwing out up to 30,000 absentee votes, possibly changing the results of several races. That would amount to voter disenfranchisement and  “harm to the public,” Colombo said.

But Sherry Wells, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Friday’s hearing raised as many questions as it answered. Wells said it's still not clear to her how using copies sped up the counting process, and how that didn’t violate state guidelines.

“The [Michigan] Secretary of State’s instructions are not clear,” Wells said. “When [the judge] says this is optional for absentee ballot counting boards, and the whole thing goes into what the process is supposed to be… how can it be optional? It’s strange.”

Wells also reiterated concerns about how much of the absentee ballot process takes place out of sight of election challengers. “How can you get evidence [of fraud] if you’re not allowed to get evidence?” she said.

Winfrey narrowly won re-election as clerk over challenger Garlin Gilchrist II by about 1400 votes. Gilchrist led the returns for most of election night, but Winfrey pulled ahead with a late surge by claiming almost two-thirds of the absentee.

Gilchrist has publicly mulled requesting a recount based on anecdotal evidence of absentee vote irregularities. As of Friday, his campaign said it was still considering the issue.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers has yet to certify Detroit’s election returns. The board is scheduled to meet Tuesday, the state deadline for certification. Gilchrist then has a week to petition for a recount, which he must pay for.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Cocktails & Popcorn: Michigan's Dirty Absentee Ballot Secret Is No Longer A Secret

With mine own eyes, did I spy.

Oh, there are many, many machinations in Michigan's dirty secret of manipulating elections with absentee ballots.

This goes all the way back to Kwame Kilpatrick, up unto this very day.

#perkinscoiesucks

Michigan’s dirty secret: Tens of thousands of absentee ballots trashed with no oversight

Alexandria Taylor, a state representative candidate,
demanded a recount of absentee ballots
after many of them were rejected

Absentee voting is touted as an easy, convenient alternative to standing in long lines at the polling station.

But what happens after you drop the ballot in the mail raises serious questions about the most fundamental promises of democracy, a Motor City Muckraker investigation has found.

As many as tens of thousands of Michigan voters were disenfranchised in elections over the past year and were never notified that their absentee ballot was rejected, a practice deemed unconstitutional in at least six states since 2016.

Unbeknownst to many voters, Michigan gives broad authority to local clerks and election boards to purge absentee ballots that do not appear to meet strict standards. One of the main reasons ballots are discarded is also one of the most subjective and disputed: Signatures on the ballots don’t appear to match those on file.

Local election officials with no accountability or expertise in handwriting analysis are required by state law to toss out mismatched signatures. Never mind that signatures often change because of disabilities, injuries, sloppy handwriting or a lack of consistency. Signatures also can appear different based on whether voters are sitting or standing or what type of writing instrument they use.

What’s worse, clerks have no obligation to notify voters or give them an opportunity to challenge rejected ballots, which judges in other states have called “fundamentally flawed,” “egregious,” “illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre.”

In October 2016, a U.S. District judge in Florida declared the state must give voters an opportunity to fix signatures disputes because election officials “have categorically disenfranchised thousands of voters arguably for no reason other than they have poor handwriting or their handwriting has changed over time.”

The rejection rate is much lower at the polls because voters are given a second ballot if they make an error. A University of Florida found that absentee ballots were 10 times more likely to be rejected than voters cast at polling locations.

Unless addressed, more voters are likely to be disenfranchised in the November election because a record number of people – more than one-quarter – are expected to cast absentee ballots for governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state lawmakers and members of Congress. Several important measures also are on the ballot, including the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and no-reason absentee voting.

In a close election, rejected absentee ballots can change the outcome.

State law currently allows absentee voting for people who are 60 years or older, have disabilities or are going to be away from home during the election.

Despite the potential of widespread disenfranchisement, the Michigan Secretary of State’s (SOS) office, which is the guardian of elections, does not even track the number of rejected ballots in most elections, said SOS spokesman Fred Woodham.

“We don’t have that data. You would have to check the clerk’s offices,” SOS spokesman Fred Woodhams told Motor City Muckraker. “They are the ones rejecting the ballots for whatever reasons.”

The task of tabulating and recording the number of discarded votes belongs to hundreds of local clerks, the same ones tossing out ballots. That means clerks are policing themselves with no oversight.

While the clerks are required to publicly disclose the number of discarded ballots and why they were rejected, none of the 10 municipal clerks reached for this story would disclose the information as required by the Michigan Bureau of Elections.

The lack of transparency raises serious questions: How many ballots are rejected? Are some communities more likely to discard votes than others? Is there an effort to disqualify legitimate votes?

Those questions have burdened Alexandria Taylor, an attorney and progressive Democrat who lost a state House seat over absentee ballots in the Aug. 7 primary. Just hours after the polls closed, Taylor went to sleep believing she had defeated Taylor City Council President Alex Garza for the 12th District seat, which covers Taylor, Romulus and Van Buren Township. But the day after some news outlets declared Taylor the winner, the final tally came in: Garza won by 10 percentage points.

While Taylor won the election at the polls, Garza defeated her among absentee voters by a more than two-to-one margin.

Suspicious, Taylor demanded a recount of absentee ballots in the city of Taylor, where the clerk supported Garza and even shared information with him about absentee ballots on Facebook.

But the recount raised more questions than answers.

Local election officials only recounted the ballots that were determined to be legitimate. They failed to review the rejected ballots or even disclose how many were discarded.

So what happened to more than 1,000 absentee votes in the city of Taylor?

No one knows except for the election officials who tossed out the ballots.

“Our elections are no longer as pure as we once thought they were,” said Todd Russell Perkins, who represented Alexandria Taylor in the recount. “It’s really a sign of bigger problems in our society.”

This much the candidates know for sure: About one quarter of all absentee ballots were either tossed or did not include a vote for the state House race.

Statewide, that number reached tens of thousands in the August primary and even more in the November general election.

After the recount, Garza was declared the winner.

In an interview with Motor City Muckraker, Taylor City Clerk Cynthia Bower insisted she doesn’t keep track of rejected absentee ballots, despite a state law requiring her to do so.

“I don’t know if our program is capable of doing that,” Bower said of the voting software.

According to the Michigan Bureau of Elections, a branch of the Secretary of State’s office, local clerks are required to use electronic poll book (EPB) software that is part of the qualified voter file (QVF). The software is designed to keep track of every vote – and each rejected ballot – by precinct.

Wayne County said it does not keep the information because it’s the responsibility of city and township clerks.

“Local clerks are responsible for identifying how many ballots were sent, received, rejected for various reasons, and counted,” Lisa Williams-Jackson told Motor City Muckraker. “Wayne County Elections posts election results as reported by the local clerks. Our office does not have the capability, or charge, to report the breakdown that you’re requesting. You should try to contact the local clerks of interest.”

This wasn’t the first time the city of Taylor had voting problems. A Wayne County judge overturned a 2016 school board election after discovering Taylor officials miscounted the write-in votes and improperly stored the ballots.

Taylor, a political newcomer and mother of three, said the ordeal was demoralizing, but that’s not stopping her from continuing to fight for more transparency in elections.

“I push forward because I know so many sacrifices were made for me to be here, in this
place,” Taylor said. “When we allow systems and the powers that be to disenfranchise us, we lose our voice and we lose our power. It takes us back decades ago where people fought and died to have this right. So many people say they don’t vote because it doesn’t matter, and I fight to let them
know, ‘Your voice matters.'”

Taylor said clerks should notify voters when their ballots are discarded and give them a chance to challenge the rejection.

In close races, rejected ballots can change the outcome. Take the presidential election in 2016, when 70,000 ballots in Detroit were either discarded or did not include a vote for president. Had those votes counted, Hillary Clinton would have defeated Donald Trump in Michigan.

In an August 2014 primary, a state Senate race in Oakland County was decided by 177 votes, and more than 500 absentee ballots were rejected. In that election, the clerk said nearly 6,000 absentee ballots – or about 7% – were discarded for various reasons.

“If 20%, or even 10%, of voters stood in line on Election Day and were turned away, there would be national outrage,” said Charles Stewart II, a political scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who discovered that millions of requested absentee ballots did not get counted nationwide during the 2000 presidential election.

Without more transparency and a requirement for voters to challenge their discarded ballots, absentee voters are taking a leap of faith.

“These are fundamental rights,” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer wrote in March 2018, requiring clerks to give voters a chance to “correct” erroneously rejected ballots.  “The statute fails to provide for notice that a voter is being disenfranchised and/or an opportunity for the voter to be heard.”

In a related case, the ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit last month, claiming the state’s Bureau of Elections discarded genuine signatures for a ballot proposal because of the “standard-less and subjective practice in reviewing petition signatures.” After a closer look, the state eventually agreed there were enough legitimate signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

“If the Bureau continues to use the same standard-less and subjective practice in reviewing petition signatures in the second sample, it will continue to reject genuine valid signatures as it did in the canvass of the first sample,” the suit claims.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Prelude To Detroit: Hillary Clinton Speaks Upon Detroit 2020 Primary Election

This happens every election cycle.

Someone files a complaint about the election.

The complaint is ignored.

The election is certified.

#maytheheavensfall

'This can't go on': Detroit primary ballots went unchecked, GOP poll challengers say

Election workers in Detroit's primary improperly altered some votes and counted thousands of absentee ballots without checks against voter lists, say GOP poll challengers who contend Michigan's largest city isn't ready for November's election.

Detroit, where problems counting ballots have been in the spotlight for at least 15 years, is quickly becoming a key front in the political fight over election integrity. Republicans are signing affidavits about problems they saw in the Aug. 4 primary, while Democratic state officials are taking steps they hope will improve ballot handling in the general election.

About 25 Michigan Republicans monitored the counting of absentee ballots in the basement of the TCF Center in Detroit for the Aug. 4 primary. They reported a variety of missteps that — if accurate — would violate policies in state manuals, ranging from cellphones being used by workers to votes being counted without lists of voters on hand to check the ballots against, according to interviews with eight poll challengers and signed affidavits from five.

A handful of the GOP poll challengers contended that they saw election workers make digital changes to disregard lone Republican votes on ballots featuring mostly Democratic votes in a bid to make the ballots legally countable in the partisan primary, where voters are not allowed to cross over.

Their accounts come after Wayne County election officials revealed that 72% of Detroit's 503 absentee voting precincts reported ballot totals that didn't match the totals of voters tracked in poll books, the official lists of voters participating in the election. The out-of-balance totals, which could have resulted from not checking ballots against the voter lists, would mean that the precincts couldn't be recounted in a close race under state law.

GOP poll challenger Cliff Frost, 73, of Warren said he was "incredulous" to see ballots sent to tabulators without first being checked against poll books as election workers are supposed to do in accordance with state manuals.

Frost said election workers told him: "We’re saving the envelopes, and we’re going to check them later." But he questioned what would happen if the workers found a problem after the votes had already been counted.




With a surge of absentee voting expected this fall, the Nov. 3 election is going to be "a mess" in Detroit, predicted Matt Harris, 41, of Commerce Township, another Republican poll watcher.

"They have September and October, two months," Harris said of the time remaining before the election. "How can they turn it around that fast?”

Election officials in Michigan have emphasized the problems in Detroit's primary election weren't examples of fraud and don't call into question the integrity of the results.

Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey, whose office didn't respond to multiple requests for comment, has tied the problems to increases in absentee voting, veteran election workers not showing up during the COVID-19 pandemic and other workers being on the job for more than 20 hours.

There are security precautions for absentee ballots, such as checking signatures on them, that can be done before Election Day, said Aghogho Edevbie, Michigan director for the voting rights group All Voting Is Local. While Edevbie said he's concerned about the processes used in Detroit's primary, he said he doesn't think something nefarious went on.

"The essential integrity of the process was not breached," he said.

The GOP allegations come as the eyes of the nation could be on Detroit this fall amid record absentee voting and criticism from President Donald Trump about mail-in voting. Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes in 2016, his closest margin of victory nationally.

Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, referenced the Republican poll challengers during an interview with TV show "The Circus" last month in which she advised Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic candidate, not to concede the election. She described the GOP challengers as "lawyers" and said a local reporter was told their presence was a "dry run" for November.

Hillary Clinton has some advice for Joe Biden: Don’t concede in a close race.

The 2016 nominee sits down with @jmpalmieri and @sho_thecircus to urge Dems to pay close attention to GOP strategy. pic.twitter.com/REwfLf1QjS

— The Recount (@therecount) August 24, 2020

"Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out and, eventually, I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is," Clinton said.

Skipping ballot books
In a basement room beneath the TCF convention center, hundreds of election workers met in the morning hours of the Aug. 4 primary to begin counting Detroit's absentee ballots.

Tables were set up in squares for each of the more than 130 county boards that would handle the city's 503 absentee voting precincts. Robert Brines, 69, of White Lake, one of the GOP poll challengers, described it as a "monster operation."

The election workers were on the job until about 5 a.m. Aug. 5, the day after the primary. Of the eight Republicans who monitored the work and were interviewed by The Detroit News, none stayed at TCF Center longer than Bob Cushman, a 70-year-old General Motors retiree from South Lyon.

An affidavit signed by Bob Cushman describes what he saw while serving as a poll challenger at Detroit's primary election at the TCF Center on Aug. 4, 2020.

Cushman arrived at the TCF Center at 6:50 a.m. Aug. 4 and didn't leave until 5:10 a.m. Aug. 5, according to an affidavit he signed later. While at the facility, he took five pages of notes, which documented election workers not checking absentee ballots against poll books, a practice that is meant to help keep ballot and voter totals in balance.



At about 2 a.m. on Aug 5, a "soft male voice" came over the microphone system in the center and "instructed everyone to stop what they are doing, open every envelope, separate the ballots and place them in the trays to go to the tabulators," according to Cushman's affidavit. Another announcement repeated the instruction a few moments later, he said.

"About 20 minutes after the announcements, I walked around the TCF Center and noted that there were no more comparisons being made to the poll books at any of the tables that I observed," Cushman said in his affidavit. "I continued to make rounds of the floor with the same observations."

The retiree estimates thousands of absentee ballots were sent to tabulators without being checked against voter lists after the 2 a.m. announcement in an effort to get results more quickly.

"This was just a primary," he said. "There’s going to be a lot more votes, many, many more votes in the general election."

Most other GOP poll challengers said they saw absentee ballots being sent to tabulators without poll book checks earlier on Aug. 4 when counting boards didn't yet have their poll books on site.

Some of the counting boards, which can handle counts for multiple precincts, didn't have poll books until 3 p.m., according to the GOP poll challengers.

"The supervisors were called and seemed shocked, but the workers already admitted that they were told to process the ballots, even without a poll book," said an affidavit from GOP poll challenger Janice Brines of Oxford.

The first steps for counting absentee ballots should involve checking the voter's name in the poll book or qualified absentee voter list, according to Michigan's official manual for absentee voter counting boards. It's an accounting measure that is supposed to help election workers track who's voted and ensure that the number of ballots counted in a specific precinct matches the number of voters.

"You need your poll book. That’s how you begin," said Chris Thomas, who served as Michigan's election director for more than 30 years and is advising Detroit elections operations this fall. "That tells you how many ballots are supposed to be there."

But Detroit was short dozens of election workers for the primary, according to a variety of sources, including Evelyn Archer of Oxford, another Republican poll challenger. Some workers didn't show up. Others left early.

"This can’t go on,” Archer said of the primary problems. “This is not representing the true vote.”

Chris Thomas
'Far cry' from disaster?
On Wednesday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the state's top election official, and Detroit Clerk Winfrey said they would partner to administer the election in Detroit this fall.

The effort will include recruiting and training at least 6,000 election workers and revising protocols for ballot counting and sorting to "reduce the potential for error," according to a press release.

New technology played a role in the problems in Detroit's primary, said Thomas, now a special adviser on Detroit's upcoming election. But under his analysis of precinct results, in which some precincts were allocated more votes than expected and others were allocated fewer, the citywide totals left only about 21 votes unaccounted for, he said earlier this week in an interview. More than 121,200 ballots were cast.

"That’s a far cry from major disaster," Thomas said.

Asked how concerned voters should be about Detroit's situation this fall, he answered clerks across Michigan are making adjustments to deal with record absentee ballots.

Detroit's previous high for absentee votes in an election was about 57,000, Thomas said. In the Aug. 4 primary, the city had about 80,000 absentee ballots cast, he said. It reflects about a 40% jump.

More will be cast in the upcoming general election during a pandemic and after voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing no-reason absentee voting in 2018.

“Every clerk is dealing with a pandemic situation," Thomas said. "There’s concern across the board in terms of them having the people and resources they need to get the job done. Detroit is no different."

Current Michigan elections director Jonathan Brater told the Michigan Board of State Canvassers on Wednesday that efforts in Detroit will focus on improving record-keeping and the accuracy of poll books.

"Because of the issues with recording ballots in the poll books along with the fact that ballots were in some cases put in the wrong containers, that made it very difficult for the city and the county to balance things out in the time they had available," Brater said.

Recount impact looms
More than a quarter of Detroit's absentee voting precincts, or 131 of 503 precincts, were off by plus or minus one ballot without an explanation for Aug. 4 primary when comparing poll books to ballot totals, according to information presented to the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.

Another 85 absentee precincts were off by two ballots without an explanation, 48 were off by three ballots, 26 off by four ballots and 73 off by five ballots. In Michigan, precincts with tallies that are off without explanations can't be recounted.

When totals are out of balance and votes can't be recounted, people will question what actually happened, said state Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, a former secretary of state.

"Something has to be done. It’s not just one city. This happens in a number of places," Johnson said.

Ruth Johnson
But the problems aren't new in Detroit. In 2016, election officials there couldn’t reconcile vote totals for 59% of precincts — combined Election Day and absentee precincts. For the Aug. 4 primary 46% of the total precincts couldn't be reconciled.

The poll book checks weren't the only problems, according to Republican challengers.

Multiple poll observers said they saw Detroit election workers digitally clear improper cross-over votes in the Democratic primary that should have made partisan portions of the ballots invalid. "Three or four times" Robert Brines said he saw election workers remove Democratic primary voters' choice of Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James.

"Some of the operators and observers were correcting an overvote when the ballot should be voided by the system software," an affidavit signed by Robert Brines said.

An affidavit describes what William Lethemon says he saw while working as a poll challenger for Detroit's primary election on Aug. 4, 2020.
Watching the counters
Michigan Republicans plan to closely monitor Detroit's vote-counting in November as President Donald Trump seeks reelection in a state he won by 10,704 votes in 2016.

Trump has argued, without evidence, that the efforts to expand absentee voting during the COVID-19 pandemic "will be the most rigged election in our nation's history." In July, he refused to commit to accepting the results of the election in advance of Nov. 3 — similar to what he did in 2016.

Detroit is Michigan's largest city in the state's largest county, a traditional Democratic stronghold that this fall will likely produce the most Democratic votes among all Michigan counties. In 2016, Detroit supplied 10% of Clinton's statewide vote total, while Wayne County provided about 23%.

Many of the 25 Republican volunteer primary poll challengers at the TCF Center said they plan to be back Nov. 3.

"The integrity of the vote is at stake in my opinion," said Frost, the 73-year-old from Warren.

Like other Republicans, Frost said he wants to see more poll challengers in Detroit — GOP and Democrats. The Democrats had two lawyers at the TCF Center for the primary, according to the Republicans.

"I’m here to watch you," Cushman said one of the Democratic lawyers told him.

Rosanne Ponkowski, 63, of West Bloomfield said she hopes more Democratic poll challengers are active in November, adding election integrity is the No. 1 priority.

"It’s in their interest to make sure the ballots are handled correctly. Period," Ponkowski said.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Will Trump Delay The 2020 General Election Due To Gerrymandering In The 2020 Primary Election?

But what about that Parental Right of a legal guardian?

Or guardian, because the Detroit Absentee Ballots did not make that designation of a legal or a non-legal, whatever that means, guardian.

What about gerrymandering?

What about the Detroit Land Bank Authority properties, many being lots, which lodged absentee ballots which were tallied and certified by the City of Detroit Election Commission?

FUN FACT! BRENDA JONES CERTIFIED HER OWN ELECTION FOR CONGRESS

So many unanswered questions....and formal complaints....that have been denied due process....about absentee ballot voting fraud in the 2016 election...

What if the 2020 General Election is put on hold due to absentee ballot fraud in the 2020 Primary Election?

Is that why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with jurisdiction over U.S. Elections, has an ominous presence in Detroit and other cities who got hit with SIGTARP?

What about the absentee ballot tallying issues in Detroit?

What about the water shutoff issues of having a vote disqualified due to condemnation codes in Detroit?

How about this one - What about all the expired Michigan State IDs due to the Cooties?

Michigan Gov. Whitmer again extends expiration of licenses, ID cards, vehicle registrations due to COVID-19No penalties until July 31

Will this mean absentee ballots submitted before July 31, 2020 will be tallied and counted, even if one does not have a valid State ID at the time of signing the absentee ballot application and submission?

Where are my Michigan Republicans on this one?

Probably too busy masking up.

EO 2020-78 Emerg Order - Dr... by Amber Ainsworth on Scribd

So many questions, so little time before the August 4, 2020 Primary Election, where, in Detroit, whoever wins the Primary, automatically wins the General!

Gov. Whitmer blasts President Trump over suggestion to delay election

President Donald Trump escalated his ongoing attacks on the mail-in voting process Thursday morning, suggesting in a tweet that the November election should be delayed. 

The statement — coming five days before a primary election in Michigan, which will be marked by a huge number of absentee ballots due to fears of spreading coronavirus at polling places — garnered a massive and immediate backlash from Republicans and Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

"It’s clear that the president is more focused on his chances in the 2020 election than on protecting families from a virus that has killed more than 150,000 Americans," Whitmer said in an emailed statement. 

"The truth is that mail-in absentee voting is safe, simple, and patriotic — so much so that the president and more than a dozen of his closest advisors have done it." 

Trump's tweet came moments after the Commerce Department announced historically abysmal financial numbers for the second quarter of the year and amid continued evidence that he is well behind the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, in national polls and in battleground states like Michigan.

In recent weeks, Trump has shaken up his campaign team, trumpeted infrastructure projects in key states and suggested he will take action to keep impoverished Americans from living in suburban neighborhoods, all as he has continued to rail against what he calls mail-in voting, despite there being no difference between that and absentee voting, and the fact that Trump himself has voted by mail several times.

Over Wednesday and Thursday he posted several comments, including one on Thursday morning saying, "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history."

"It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???" 

The president's rhetoric appears to be an attempt to sow doubt in the eventual outcome of the presidential vote and echoes other unfounded attacks on mail-in voting. Posting such comments days before Tuesday's primary in Michigan, meanwhile, could further undermine confidence in results, which Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says could take days to finalize.

"A sitting president is peddling lies and suggesting delaying the election to keep himself in power," U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, posted on Twitter shortly after Trump's tweet. "Don’t let it happen."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said on Twitter, "The general election will take place on November 3rd. Period."

"We aren't going to delay an election just because this impeached president's poll numbers are falling," she added.

The president does not have the power to delay any federal election. This power is reserved to the states or Congress, according to the National Constitution Center. 

With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020

“Unlike the practice of some states that allow the governor to postpone an election during emergencies, neither the Constitution nor Congress provides any similar power to the president or other federal officials to change this date outside of Congress’s regular legislative process,” wrote the center, citing a recent opinion from the Congressional Research Service. 

There is no indication that either chamber — especially with Democrats in control of the U.S. House — would entertain changing the date of the election. Even if somehow there were no election, Trump's first term in office will end, by law, on noon on Jan. 20, 2021.

Absentee voting expected to be big part of primary

Nearly 2 million Michigan voters have requested absentee ballots for the primary election. The presidential election and ongoing pandemic fears will drive that number up in November, Benson recently said. 

Benson has repeatedly said mail-in voting is safe and secure. Whitmer echoed those comments Thursday while noting monumental events in U.S. history have not delayed other elections. 

"If we could hold an election in 1864 in the midst of a Civil War threatening to tear our country apart, we can and will hold one in 2020. It’s time for the president to get his priorities straight and work with Congress on a bipartisan recovery package that protects our families, frontline workers, and small business owners.” 

Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting, implying Democrats have created a system that exacerbates fraud without providing any evidence. Chris Gustafson, a Trump campaign spokesman in Michigan, recently echoed those claims while saying Republicans have always favored absentee voting. 

Voter fraud is very rare, noted University of Michigan professor Edie Goldenberg in a in a recent column for academic outlet The Conversation.  

"The evidence we reviewed finds that voting by mail is rarely subject to fraud, does not give an advantage to one political party over another and can in fact inspire public confidence in the voting process, if done properly," Goldenberg stated. 

Citing a database of voter fraud allegations maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Goldenberg noted 143 convictions for voter fraud involving mail-in ballots in the entire U.S. since 2000. That's only a fraction of the more than 250 million ballots cast during that time, she reported. 

Republicans have been attacking absentee voting

In May, Benson mailed absentee ballot applications to all 7.7 million registered voters in the state. While she says the high participating rate is evidence that this was a successful efforts, Republicans in the state have attacked the effort. 

Trump initially criticized the effort and threatened to withhold state funding. On Wednesday, Senate Elections Committee Chairwoman Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, questioned why Benson would use the state's qualified voter file as a mailing list. Johnson, who previously served as secretary of state, said she's heard from many concerned Michiganders who received ballot applications for family or friends who are dead or who moved out of state. 

Both Johnson and Benson acknowledged the voter file is difficult to maintain and contains the names of people who are no longer eligible to vote. But Benson said a "secondary goal" of the May mailing was to help kick-start the process of cleaning up the file. 

Voters may still request absentee ballots in person from local clerks until 4 p.m. Monday. A ballot must be received by a clerk by 8 p.m. Tuesday, when polls close, in order to be valid. Polls for Michigan's primaries open at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Congressional Democrats criticize Trump's misinformation campaign

Democrats in Michigan's congressional delegation, meanwhile, were quick to denounce the president's suggestion and continued to say he was spreading false rumors about the security of absentee voting.

Just a day earlier, on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, led a letter signed by several Democratic members of Congress to Trump complaining that the president had been using his position to "spread misinformation about vote-by-mail" that wasn't supported by his own administration's findings.

"Your continued insistence on spewing misinformation and hoaxes does nothing more than create confusion," the letter said. "Your rhetoric is manipulating people into believing the upcoming November elections are 'rigged' without any evidence — a mistaken belief that threatens the integrity of our democracy moving forward. 

U.S. Rep.  Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said Thursday that by "laying out the path to discredit the results of the election," Trump is bolstering a theory that some of his critics have been talking about for months: The  possibility that he might move to disrupt the election or the transition of presidential power in some way.

"It sent a shiver down my spine, as I hope it does all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle," said Slotkin, a former acting assistant U.S. Department of Defense secretary.

U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Bloomfield Township, said he expects more to come. "We are in the midst of a dystopian nightmare caused by the greatest failure of executive leadership in the modern history of the presidency. Given Trump’s poll numbers, I’m afraid we can expect a lot more efforts to sow fear, confusion and conspiracy theories."

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, who was attending the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis' funeral in Georgia, said, "Voting and regular elections are a fundamental pillar of our democracy. John Lewis said in his final words to America: ‘Democracy is not a state. It is an act…’ John Lewis fought with his soul to protect voting rights. We must each do our part to strengthen voting rights. We can and must have elections on Nov. 3."

Republicans in the delegation were less quick to respond to a question from the Free Press, though a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, said Upton "does not believe the November election needs to be delayed." 

Some other Republicans from outside Michigan knocked down the idea as well. Speaking on Fox News, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, said, “We will not delay the election.” U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said in a tweet, "Election dates are set by Congress. And I will oppose any attempts to delay the #2020Election."

City of Detroit Absentee Ba... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Michigan Secretary Of State Jocelyn Benson Rewrites Voting Rights Law All By Herself, Again

This is not going to end very well for Jocelyn Benson because she no longer has Fat Ass to guide her through successfully executing the absentee ballot victory process he had mastered.

Trump blasts mass absentee ballot efforts in Michigan, Nevada

"This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State," Trump wrote of the Michigan effort.

Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020

Actually, this is not going to end well for anyone who was mean to my Sweetie.

#maytheheavensfall

Secretary of State mailing every Michigan voter absentee ballot application for 2020 elections

LANSING, MI. - Every registered voter in Michigan will receive an application to vote by mail for August and November elections.

Coming off an encouraging May election cycle that saw "record-breaking" voter turnout despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson wants to follow-up those results with an even greater effort.

Absentee ballot applications to be mailed out across Michigan for 2020 election
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has a goal to mail to every resident an application to vote absentee due to social distance concerns for the 2020 election.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the department head promised applications for every one of the 7.7 million registered voters in Michigan. About 1.3 million residents can already vote absentee.

“We appreciate that some clerks are proactively protecting public health by mailing applications to all their registered voters, and we are fulfilling our responsibility to provide all voters equal access,” said Benson. “We know from the elections that took place this month that during the pandemic Michiganders want to safely vote.”

The elections that voters can participate in 2020 include the primary elections held in August and the presidential election in November.

Over the last decade, average voter turnout in local elections in May has been an abysmal 12%. Last May 5, around 50 elections were held across 33 counties and witness almost 25% turnout. The remarkably high numbers serve as indicators for what's to come for Michigan's election systems later in the year.

Among that high turnout came an even more remarkable figure: 99% of ballots cast were by mail. Part of that reason can be attributed to the emergency order signed in March about two weeks after the virus was first confirmed. In the order, the governor expanded absentee voting access by allowing the secretary of state to issue absentee ballot applications to every registered voter and to provide absentee ballots directly to new registrants.

Michigan's election systems have waded into new territory since the state's electorate approved a proposition via a ballot measure that would allow any voter to cast their ballot remotely, regardless of the reason. Benson said this factor was a driving force behind the surge in turnout during the Democratic Primary election held March 10.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

The Tale Of Jocelyn Benson: DHS Co-conspiracy Testimony On Voting Rights

The last time I checked, the 2018 Special Election has yet to be certified.

Then, there is that situation with the 2016 General Election certification.

So......

Riddle me this:

If 72% of the election cycle vote count cannot be replicated in a recount, something Jill Stein experienced in Michigan, then, what was the vote tally?

See, the tally and the vote are two, separate and exclusive datasets.

Then, we are dealing with Janice Winfrey.

So, how can one certify the 2020 Primary Election, when no one knows how many people voted?

But, then again, Jocelyn Benson likes to make up stuff all the time.

For some strange reason, I could not find the video.

Perhaps, it was sealed.

About to testify at a virtual hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security titled “Protecting America's Democracy: Ensuring Every Vote Counts." Tune in to the livestream now at https://t.co/CZjoFME4Rz pic.twitter.com/AlPGVYN9jJ

— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) August 28, 2020

First, this happened...

Michigan board requires Benson to oversee Detroit's fall election

Lansing — The Michigan Board of State Canvassers is requiring Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to exercise her oversight powers this November in Detroit after widespread problems counting ballots in the city's primary and ahead of a pivotal presidential election.

But Benson, a Democrat from Detroit, said in a Monday interview that her efforts wouldn't focus on just the state's largest city. The Secretary of State's office is going to do a "deep dive" in the coming days to identify additional ways to support multiple cities across Michigan as they prepare for a surge of absentee voting this fall, she said.

"I am confident that we’re going to have record turnout this fall and the results of our elections are going to be accurate,” Benson said.

Maurice Brown, 54, of Detroit, votes in precinct \232 at Greater Emmanuel Institutional church this morning during primary voting in Detroit, Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

About 72% of the absentee voting precincts in Detroit's primary election had ballot totals that didn't match the number of ballots reported in poll books. This situation would likely mean  — under state law — those precincts couldn't be recounted in a close race, which is driving concerns among officials for the general election when the eyes of the nation could be on Michigan.

President Donald Trump won the state by 10,704 votes in 2016, his smallest margin of victory nationwide. Former First Lady Michelle Obama said at last week's Democratic convention that it averaged to two votes per precinct in Michigan.

"I don’t really care what the issue is," said Julie Matuzak, a Democratic member of the Board of State Canvassers. "I care that this not happen in November.”

On Monday morning, the board of two Democrats and two Republicans unanimously certified statewide election results for the Aug. 4 primary but included language in the certification that seeks to ensure that Benson gets further involved in supervising what happens with the general election in the state's largest city.

The board approved a requirement that Benson exercise "supervisory control" over the November election in Detroit. State law already provides the secretary of state supervisory control over local election officials, and it's unclear what specific changes in the administration of the election will occur.

"I don't think we're in the position to add the detail right now," said Norm Shinkle, a Republican member of the Board of State Canvassers.

Matuzak, who previously called the situation in the primary "appalling," said she wanted regular reports on what's happening in Detroit ahead of the general election. And Shinkle said he wanted to see a list of requirements from the Secretary of State's Office for the state, Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey and election workers in the city to meet "if Detroit's going to run their own election."

"Otherwise, the secretary of state walks in and runs it," Shinkle said.

Winfrey has connected problems in the primary to election workers who were on the job for more than 20 hours and to a record surge of absentee ballots that they couldn't begin counting until Election Day.

In the Monday interview, Benson reiterated her calls for the Republican-controlled state Legislature to allow election workers to begin processing absentee ballots — getting them ready to be counted — before Election Day to help deal with an onslaught of mail-in voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While it's not the entire issue in Detroit, it's a "significant piece of the challenge that occurred," she said.

"This is in many ways a reflection of the potential for human error that overworked and stressed election workers can succumb to when you have the time crunch we've been warning about for nearly a year and a half," Benson said.

Some Republican lawmakers have opposed the proposed change because of concerns that it could lead to ballots being counted before voting is over, potentially giving one side an advantage.

Jonathan Brater, the state's elections director, said it isn't logistically possible for the state to run the election in Detroit but added that there are things that need to be done "much better" in the city.

For the primary, poll books weren't updated as absentee ballots came in, some absentee ballots were allocated to the wrong precincts and ballots were placed in incorrect containers, Brater said.

"We are going to be taking a more active role, both in the recruitment and the training of election inspectors," he added.

About 72% of the 503 absentee voting precincts in Detroit's primary elections had absentee ballot totals that didn't match the number of ballots reported in poll books.

Overall — for absentee voting and Election Day precincts — 46% of Detroit's precincts had ballot totals that were out of balance for the Aug. 4 primary without provided explanations from election workers, meaning they likely couldn't be recounted under state law. The problems spurred frustration and questions from election officials at both the county and state level.

Asked if it would be a failure if Detroit repeated the 46% mismatch rate in November, Benson said her goal is to ensure there is "complete security of the process."

"I am focused on having successful elections in November," she added. "And to me, success would be defined by an accurate count of all of the ballots that are cast."

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers approved a resolution last week, asking the Secretary of State's Office to investigate the "training and processes" used in Detroit's primary election. The resolution asked the office to provide a monitor to "supervise the training and administration" of absentee voter counting boards in Detroit for the general election.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers approved this resolution asking the Michigan Secretary of State's office to investigate "the training and processes" used by Detroit for the 2020 primary election.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a record 1.6 million people in Michigan voted by mail for the Aug. 4 primary, which itself set a new record for overall turnout of 2.5 million voters.

Winfrey noted the vast majority of the absentee voting precincts in the city with totals that didn't balance were less than three ballots off, plus or minus.

Detroit had problems with precinct count mismatches in the November 2016 election. Election officials couldn’t reconcile vote totals for 59% of precincts in the city during a countywide canvass of vote results with most of the issues involving too many votes.

Monday morning's meeting of the Board of State Canvassers was a continuation of a meeting that happened on Friday, when technological problems interrupted and forced officials to schedule a new meeting.

During the Friday meeting, all four members of the board voiced frustration with the results of Detroit's primary. Republican state board member Aaron Van Langevelde said the situation was "very troubling" and "unacceptable."

"A repeat performance is going to seriously undermine the public's confidence in the general election," he said.

Then, this happened....

#maytheheavensfall

Secretary of State Benson testifies to protect democracy ahead of election

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson testified before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security on Aug. 28.

Her testimony focused on how to protect America’s democracy and ensure that every vote counts this November, according to Benson.

During the testimony, Benson discussed the statewide primary on Aug. 4 that shattered the previous record for total absentee ballots cast.

“Between a global pandemic and what seems near constant and escalating rhetoric and misinformation, 2020 has brought historic pressures on our elections systems,” said Secretary Benson. “In Michigan our statewide primary has served as a blueprint for running safe, secure, accessible elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, while also highlighting critical needs that, if addressed, can put every state on a path towards successful November elections.”

Benson also spoke for the need for partnership and additional support from state and federal officials to replicate what she says was a successful August election in November.

She also called on the federal government to fully fund the postal service and provide another round of funding to states to shore up election preparations.

“Democracy is a team sport, and if we work together we can succeed in holding elections this fall that are secure, on schedule, and an accurate reflection of the will of the people.” said Secretary Benson. “It’s possible, it’s doable, and our voters should demand no less from their government.”

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©