Wayne County, MI election commission votes to not certify election results
The Board of Canvassers in Wayne County, Michigan had originally voted 2-2 along party lines on Tuesday night regarding the November 3 election, resulting in a tie, meaning the election results were not certified for Joe Biden.
However, later in the night, Republican canvassers altered their decisions and voted in favor of Democrats while a live video broadcast showing the decision-making process went suddenly offline.
“After hours of angry responses from Wayne County residents, the change in course was approved by the two Republican and two Democratic canvassers with the demand that the Secretary of State’s office conducts a ‘comprehensive audit’ of precincts with unexplained out-of-balance tallies,” reported Detroit News.
If the approval was conditional on the “comprehensive audit,” or if the investigation was requested is not yet clear. Despite the fact the audit has yet to take place, the two Republicans certified the race, rendering the condition moot.
Detroit News reported the broadcast of the meeting went about as well as the vote counting on Election Day:
The high-stakes vote, with the eyes of the nation on Michigan’s largest county, apparently took place while the video stream for the virtual meeting wasn’t working.
“That passed unanimously,” Republican member William Hartmann said when the video began functioning again. “We just voted on that.”
Moments later, he said, “We’re going to adjourn,” and the board ended its meeting at 9:08 p.m.
The Detroit Free Press stated the board “passed a resolution calling on Michigan Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to conduct an independent comprehensive audit of all of the jurisdictions in the county that recorded unexplained discrepancies between the number of absentee ballots recorded as cast and the number of absentee ballots counted.”
WXYZ stated that the board “voted to certify the results under the stipulation that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson does a comprehensive audit of the election in the county.”
The Republican canvassers only certified the results following pressure and threats from Democrat activists, allegedly under threat.
“Just know when you try to sleep tonight, that millions of people around the world now on Twitter know the name Monica Palmer and William Hartmann,” he said, referring to the two Republican canvassers, “as two people completely racist and without an understanding of what integrity means or a shred of human decency. The law’s not on your side. History won’t be on your side,” he announced.
WAYNE COUNTY BOARD OF CANVASSERS - 2 Republican members voted not to certify the ballots- public comment is now open and it is intense. People calling board members racist. This is commenter Ned Staebler: pic.twitter.com/cEsDlxzVXT
— Jennifer Ann Wilson WXYZ (@JennaWils) November 17, 2020
Victory! Public pressure matters.
— Kristen Clarke 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) November 18, 2020
The Wayne County Board of Canvassers has reversed course and unanimously agreed to certify the results (upon the condition that the Sec'y of State’s office conduct an audit of precincts across the county).
Results will move forward to the State Board of Canvassers which has two Republican and two Democrats as members, with the certification of Wayne County,
Over 100 affidavits have been filed by observers related to the vote counting process in Detroit. Many individuals have alleged that ballots have been counted multiple times, with stacks of ballots arriving in the middle of the night, and observers being blocked from spectating the tabulation process during the 2020 presidential election.
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