Empty envelopes of opened vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary are stacked on a table at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
One day after the election, the results are still pending and will likely depend on the rust belt. President Donald Trump holds a strong lead in the state of Michigan, but the city of Detroit and their mail-in and absentee ballots have yet to be officially tallied.
In news that will likely cast further doubt on the election results, tens of thousands of absentee ballots arrived in large U.S. Postal Service boxes at the TCF Center in Detroit, Mich. on Wednesday morning at 3:30 am. The TCF Center, formerly Cobo Hall, is where the absentee ballots are counted for Wayne County, which is the home of Detroit.
Former Michigan state senator Patrick Colbeck wrote that the total number of ballots dumped on the counting board totaled 38,000:
Before the ballots showed up mysteriously at 3:30 am, no ballots had arrived at the TCF Center for over six hours, and many poll workers in the facility sat around with no work to do while getting paid hundreds of dollars by the state of Michigan.
According to Michigan election law, all of these mail-in and absentee ballots had to be submitted before 8pm on Tuesday night in order to be lawfully accepted and counted for the election. This means the city of Detroit potentially sat on these ballots for hours. The white van that arrived had the name of Detroit city clerk Janice Winfrey emblazoned upon it as well as a logo and a phone number. Last month, Winfrey set the stage to drag out the process in an interview with ABC 7 News.
“We’re back in control, and we know that we will have nearly 10,000 poll workers that will be working with us to process ballots on election day, or election week is what we’re calling it now, because we know we’re going to be slow,” she said, adding that she was not going to let “outside influencers” get in the way of her election day schemes.
That entire interview with Winfrey can be seen in its full context here:
The ballots were kept away when they could have otherwise been taken to the TCF Center in smaller, more manageable batches. Countless taxpayer dollars were wasted and many poll challengers were disenfranchised because delivery took so long. The ballots being in limbo for such a lengthy period of time also increases the potentiality for fraud as well.
Big League Politics has reported on how Democrats were trying to manipulate the rules to disenfranchise poll challengers before the courts smacked them down:
One day after vowing to fight a crucial voter integrity lawsuit in the courts, the Michigan attorney general’s office has conceded to demands that plaintiffs believe will clarify the role of poll challengers in the state.
The case was heard in the Michigan Court of Claims, which springs from shocking #DetroitLeaks revelations that show election workers cackling as their instructor explains how they will be able to use COVID-19 social distancing rules to disenfranchise poll challengers.
Attorneys Philip Ellison and Matt Gronda appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs, state representative candidate Stephen Carra and electoral integrity watchdog Bob Cushman. Assistant attorney general Erik Grill attended on behalf of Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel.
“At this point, your honor, I am happy to report that the parties and the attorneys have been working very diligently this morning to try and reach a resolution, and I’m happy to report that we have,” Gronda said…
He explained that the secretary of state’s office will be sending out an explicit notice before Oct. 29 at 5pm that makes clear the rights of poll challengers and watchers.
Gronda said that the new directive would be approximate to this: “Challengers and poll watchers have certain rights and responsibilities established by Michigan election law. Challengers and poll watchers are required to wear masks that cover the nose and mouth to the extent medically able to do so consistent with the MDHHS order and maintain social distancing while not performing their legal duties.”
“Challengers and poll watchers should maintain at least six feet of distance between themselves and election workers and voters as reasonably possible. However, to the extent that it is necessary to temporarily stand in closer proximity to election workers, to have a challenge heard, to observe the poll book, or perform any other legal duty, challengers and poll watchers are permitted to do so, provided close personal interaction is as brief as possible,” the new directive continues.
“Once a challenge or necessary observation is complete, challengers and poll watchers should resume remaining six feet away from voters and poll workers,” the directive concludes.
The Trump campaign and lawyers on the ground at the TCF Center are aware of what occurred and are investigating. Any individual in Michigan who wants to get involved to enforce electoral integrity is invited to email GuardTheVote@gmail.com for information about poll challenging in Detroit.