Bureau of Elections denies Cheboygan County Commission's request to conduct election audit
Clara HendricksonRepublican attempts to continue questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election faced another setback in Michigan on Wednesday after the Bureau of Elections declined a county commission's request to conduct an audit prompted by false conspiracy theories that votes were manipulated.
The Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners approved the request June 22. The commission sought the bureau's permission to investigate whether the county's voting machines were connected with "any unauthorized computer" that changed the results of the presidential election.
In an Aug. 4 letter denying the request, Director of Elections Jonathan Brater told the commission's chair, John Wallace, that the commissioners lacked the authority under state law to conduct or supervise post-election audits. Michigan election law only allows the Secretary of State and county clerks to carry out election audits, Brater wrote.
Wallace said he was not dismayed by Brater's response. "I'm not disappointed and I think he's following the statutes," he told the Free Press.
In his letter, Brater said there remain available avenues for additional reviews of the Nov. 3 election.
Cheboygan County Clerk Karen Brewster could examine voting equipment, though Brater said such a review was unnecessary and would likely impose costs on the county.
"In light of these costs and the lack of any actual evidence that voting systems have been compromised, the Bureau would not instruct or advise the County Clerk to conduct any additional review," Brater wrote.
Brater laid out another option: submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to view voted ballots.
"Through this process, it would be possible for any member of the public to compare the votes on viewed paper ballots to the totals on tabulator tapes (which are also public records that may be inspected), canvass records and reported totals to verify the numbers matched," Brater wrote.
Former President Donald Trump has increasingly focused on mobilizing his supporters to push for so-called "forensic audits" of the election as part of his relentless disinformation campaign claiming the election was stolen from him.
The Free Press, election officials and state lawmakers have repeatedly debunked claims that tabulators were connected to the internet and switched votes. A comprehensive series of post-election audits conducted across Michigan affirmed the Nov. 3 election results are accurate and voting machines counted ballots properly.
More:Michigan Republican-led investigation rejects Trump's claim that Nov. 3 election was stolen
More:Michigan completes most comprehensive post-election audit in state history: What it showed
Prior to seeking approval from the Bureau of Elections for an audit, Brater sent a letter to Brewster stating that no third parties other than federally accredited voting system test laboratories should be granted access to the county's voting equipment. The commission's letter to Brater stated that the commission would hire an accredited auditor if granted approval to conduct the audit.
The bureau has not received requests for an audit from other county commissions in Michigan, according to Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office.
A similar push in Antrim County failed when its Board of Commissioners rejected a motion for a "forensic audit" of the Nov. 3 election. Ahead of the commission's vote, the Bureau of Elections sent a letter to Antrim County Clerk Sheryl Guy stating that the commission lacks the authority to require an audit of records or equipment maintained by Guy or municipal clerks in Antrim County.
Pro-Trump activists across Michigan have pushed for additional audits of the election, pointing to the one in Arizona's Maricopa County — widely seen as illegitimate by election experts and officials — as a model. Cyber Ninjas, whose CEO peddled election conspiracies, has undertaken the examination of ballots and voting machines described by the county's top Republican official as a "grift disguised as an audit."
Top Republican lawmakers in Michigan don't appear to have much interest in undertaking a similar review in Michigan.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, has vehemently defended an exhaustive report debunking election conspiracies and misinformation that was adopted by the Republican members of the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee.
House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, said lawmakers in the House have prioritized legislation billed by Republicans as a way to bolster election integrity. Moving the legislation through the House "is where our focus will stay," he said in a statement to the Free Press.
Some Republican lawmakers, however, are pushing for another audit of the Nov. 3 election. Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, introduced a bill to conduct another statewide audit of the election results that was referred to the Committee on Government Operations right before lawmakers recessed for their summer break.
Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.