Michigan Republicans say they want to rescind votes certifying election, say they were misled By Calvin Freiburger for Life Site News
It’s unclear whether the two Republicans’ votes can be rescinded at this late date, and there is no indication an audit of Wayne County is forthcoming.
DETROIT, Michigan, November 19, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Two Republicans on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who refused to certify the presidential results but backed down hours later now say they were misled into their certification votes and want to rescind them.
The initial vote Tuesday evening deadlocked at 2-2, falling along party lines, because absentee ballot poll books at 93 of Detroit’s 134 absentee counting boards (70 percent) were mismatched “anywhere from one to more than four votes” without an explanation. The deadlock set off a rash of both local and national fervor, with President Donald Trump’s supporters expressing hope the development might lead to the Michigan Legislature awarding the state’s electors to Trump (an idea Republican State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey shot down earlier in the day), with Trump’s foes enraged by the idea Republicans were trying to circumvent the election.
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Two hours later, the board’s Republicans, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, backed down, agreeing to certify the election in exchange for Democrats joining them in asking that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson conduct a “comprehensive audit” of the precincts in question. The next day, however, they signed a pair of affidavits declaring their intentions to rescind their votes.
Palmer and Hartmann both say they were told by Wayne County counsel Janet Anderson-Davis that they lacked the legal discretion to deny certification of the vote, and that they would not have voted to certify without the assurances of an audit, which they realized was unlikely upon seeing Benson confirm that she did not consider the locality’s agreement binding on the state. The two continue to maintain that the vote had “serious process flaws which deserve investigation.”
“I’m pleased Mr. Hartmann and Ms. Palmer reiterated their opposition to the certification of the Wayne County results despite bullying and threats and in the face of broken promises by Michigan’s Secretary of State,” Phill Kline, head of the Thomas More Society’s Amistad Project, said to Just the News. “Mr. Hartman is properly demanding answers from Wayne County election officials.”
