Civil rights leaders, legal experts call on Michigan Board of Canvassers to certify election
four-member Michigan board has to certify the election results.
“All that is left is the verification of the vote,” said Christina Schlitt, president of the League of Women Voters of Michigan. “It is the sworn duty of boards of canvassers to confirm the will of the people without regard to their personal opinions about what the voters chose.”
Black leaders advocates outraged over initial Wayne County Canvassers vote
On Tuesday, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on certifying the election results in Michigan’s largest county after the two Republicans on the four-member board, William Hartmann and Monica Palmer, raised questions about out-of-balance precinct results in Detroit. They later reversed their vote and the board voted 4-0 to approve certification and asked the state to conduct an audit. Later in the week, Hartmann and Palmer announced in affidavits that they wanted to rescind their votes, but experts say there is no provision in law for them to do so..
Detroit Mayor blasts Trump attacks, says voting count was 99.9% accurate
Palmer on Friday defender her actions, saying that there were problems with tabulation in Detroit. She said she has forwarded her concerns to the state board of canvassers.
“I have provided them a copy of my affidavit,” she said in an online news conference.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan earlier this week defended the voting process, saying the count was 99.9% accurate, with only 357 out-of-balance counts out of 250,000 votes cast.
Who’s on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers? Meet the members
On Friday, Trump was to meet with Republican House and Senate leaders from Michigan.
But Pirich said any attempts by state legislators to intervene in election results is “simply not allowed by Michigan law.”
He said the state board has “no discretion at all” to block the certification and ask for an investigation into any claims of tabulation irregularities, he said. “Simply look at the numbers. … Add up the numbers.”
If the state board fails to certify the results, “the court will order them,” said Mark Brewer, an attorney and former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Steve Liedel, an election attorney in Michigan, said that if necessary, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could intervene to certify results.
Liedel said that any attempts by the state Legislature to intervene now by changing laws would be like “changing the rules of a football game … at the end of the fourth quarter.”
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