True the Vote Sues Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Contest Illegal Ballots Counted in Michigan
True the Vote Sues Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Contest Illegal Ballots Counted in Michigan
Represents Michigan Voters in Litigation Seeking Full Investigation Into Voting Irregularities That Diluted Legal Votes and Possibly Influenced Election Outcome
HOUSTON, Texas – True the Vote, as part of its “Validate the Vote” initiative and on behalf of four Michigan voters, has filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Gretchen Whitmer and county officials in Wayne, Washtenaw, and Ingham Counties to contest illegal ballots that were counted in the recent elections. The lawsuit alleges that evidence exists to cast sufficient doubt on the current results of the presidential election in Michigan and seeks to invalidate the presidential election results in counties where illegal ballots and ballot-counting were so widespread that the overall results cannot be trusted.
“One of the most fundamental rights that we as Americans possess is the right to vote," said True the Vote Founder and President Catherine Engelbrecht. "It is a critical part of our freedom of speech, yet we are seeing that basic freedom silenced in states all across the country that refuse to implement adequately fair and secure elections – Michigan being one of the worst offenders. Every illegal vote that is counted dilutes the voting rights of law-abiding American citizens, and jeopardizes Americans’ trust in their electoral process. Enough is enough. True the Vote is taking a stand on behalf of Michiganders – and all Americans – to stop bad actors who are stripping away citizens’ most basic rights by refusing to secure our election process. We will take proper action to put an end to it.”
The lawsuit states that there exists sufficient evidence to doubt the results of the November 3 presidential election, including issues with transparency, fraudulent changing of dates, a software glitch, clerical errors, illegal votes – including dead people and felons, excluded poll watchers, vote dumps, backdated ballots, and many other issues and irregularities.
“The irregularities of the vote count in Michigan are overwhelming and widespread,” said True the Vote General Counsel James Bopp, Jr. of The Bopp Law Firm, PC. “It is our desire to ensure that these reports are thoroughly investigated to better determine the impact of maleficent and erroneous activity that could call into question the entire result of the presidential election in Michigan. True the Vote’s lawsuit will ensure that legal voters have their voices heard and their votes counted.”
A sampling of the evidence presented in the lawsuit includes:
The following is a timeline of key dates surrounding final certification of elections and vote of the Electoral College, prior to Inauguration Day:
View the full Michigan LawsuitDownload
# # #
True the Vote (TTV) is an IRS-designated 501(c)3 voters' rights organization, founded to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. TTV empowers organizations and individuals across the nation to actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation. For more information, please visit www.truethevote.org .
Represents Michigan Voters in Litigation Seeking Full Investigation Into Voting Irregularities That Diluted Legal Votes and Possibly Influenced Election Outcome
HOUSTON, Texas – True the Vote, as part of its “Validate the Vote” initiative and on behalf of four Michigan voters, has filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Gretchen Whitmer and county officials in Wayne, Washtenaw, and Ingham Counties to contest illegal ballots that were counted in the recent elections. The lawsuit alleges that evidence exists to cast sufficient doubt on the current results of the presidential election in Michigan and seeks to invalidate the presidential election results in counties where illegal ballots and ballot-counting were so widespread that the overall results cannot be trusted.
“One of the most fundamental rights that we as Americans possess is the right to vote," said True the Vote Founder and President Catherine Engelbrecht. "It is a critical part of our freedom of speech, yet we are seeing that basic freedom silenced in states all across the country that refuse to implement adequately fair and secure elections – Michigan being one of the worst offenders. Every illegal vote that is counted dilutes the voting rights of law-abiding American citizens, and jeopardizes Americans’ trust in their electoral process. Enough is enough. True the Vote is taking a stand on behalf of Michiganders – and all Americans – to stop bad actors who are stripping away citizens’ most basic rights by refusing to secure our election process. We will take proper action to put an end to it.”
The lawsuit states that there exists sufficient evidence to doubt the results of the November 3 presidential election, including issues with transparency, fraudulent changing of dates, a software glitch, clerical errors, illegal votes – including dead people and felons, excluded poll watchers, vote dumps, backdated ballots, and many other issues and irregularities.
“The irregularities of the vote count in Michigan are overwhelming and widespread,” said True the Vote General Counsel James Bopp, Jr. of The Bopp Law Firm, PC. “It is our desire to ensure that these reports are thoroughly investigated to better determine the impact of maleficent and erroneous activity that could call into question the entire result of the presidential election in Michigan. True the Vote’s lawsuit will ensure that legal voters have their voices heard and their votes counted.”
A sampling of the evidence presented in the lawsuit includes:
- A credentialed poll challenger was excluded from the absentee counting process, contrary to Michigan law. Additionally, it is alleged that absentee counting boards conducted counts without inspectors from each party being present and that challengers were denied access to video of ballot boxes, contrary to Michigan law.
- Election officials in Wayne County refused to permit statutorily designated challengers to observe the conduct of the election and the processing of ballots. This included being denied meaningful opportunity to observe the counts; denial of access to the facility; denial of re-entry; lack of replacement of Republican challengers; social distancing enforced in a partisan manner; blocking by election officials; being forced to observe at unreasonable distances; windows being covered to prevent viewing; and intimidation, threatening, and harassment by election officials. Election officials also ignored and disregarded valid challenges.
- Challengers were prohibited from observing the ballot duplication process, which were only performed by Democrats.
- Challengers were prohibited from observing the ballot duplication process, which were only performed by Democrats.
- Officials counted ineligible ballots, including those being repeatedly run through tabulation machines, mismatched ballots being counted, illegal addition of voters into poll books, counting of ballots with no voter record, ballots counted without signature or postmark, ballots counted that all contained the same signature, ballots being “corrected” then counted, the counting of provisional ballots, officials changing ballots, harvested ballots being dropped off, counting of deceased voters, etc. Moreover, some election officials pre-dated ballots that were not eligible to be counted by altering the date the ballot was received.
- Officials counted ineligible ballots, including those being repeatedly run through tabulation machines, mismatched ballots being counted, illegal addition of voters into poll books, counting of ballots with no voter record, ballots counted without signature or postmark, ballots counted that all contained the same signature, ballots being “corrected” then counted, the counting of provisional ballots, officials changing ballots, harvested ballots being dropped off, counting of deceased voters, etc. Moreover, some election officials pre-dated ballots that were not eligible to be counted by altering the date the ballot was received.
- Ballots were allowed to be dropped into unattended drop boxes, contrary to Michigan law.
- Michigan postal workers were issued a directive to collect ballots, separate them, and hand stamp them with the previous day’s date. This directive was given on November 4, 2020, the day after the election. Michigan law requires that votes be received before the close of the polls on election day. This directive was an obvious attempt to circumvent Michigan law and count late votes. It is unclear how many illegal ballots were accepted and counted as a result of this scheme.
- There have been reports that more than 10,000 people confirmed or suspected dead have returned their mail-in ballots to vote in Michigan.
- There have been reports that more than 10,000 people confirmed or suspected dead have returned their mail-in ballots to vote in Michigan.
- GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel detailed 131 affidavits and 2,800 incident reports documenting fraud and other irregularities in the election in Michigan. She also detailed reports from a whistleblower alleging: “being told by a supervisor to backdate ballots that came in after the legal deadline; witnessing poll workers encouraging voters to vote straight Democrat; and even poll workers going into the booths with voters."
- GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel detailed 131 affidavits and 2,800 incident reports documenting fraud and other irregularities in the election in Michigan. She also detailed reports from a whistleblower alleging: “being told by a supervisor to backdate ballots that came in after the legal deadline; witnessing poll workers encouraging voters to vote straight Democrat; and even poll workers going into the booths with voters.”
- In Antrim County, a software glitch caused at least 6,000 ballots to be counted for Democrats that were actually cast for Republicans. Similar glitches could have affected many other Michigan counties, as it has been reported that 69 of Michigan’s 83 counties use the same software.
- Wayne County uses the same software as Antrim and “tested only a single one of its vote tabulating machines before the election.”
- Specifically, in Oakland County, it was initially reported that Adam Kochenderfer lost by a few hundred votes. However, after an error was found and fixed, Kochenderfer was found to have won by over 1,000 votes.
- A Republican candidate for state legislature initially only received two votes, an error that was later corrected. Of particular note, the program that caused the error is used by at least 33 other Michigan counties.
- There are also reports of multiple ballots being sent to a single address. Mark Springer, a Michigan resident, received seven mail-in ballot delivered to his mailbox.
- Over 50 Michigan counties, including Wayne and Washtenaw, had “more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. Of particular relevance here, Wayne County registration rate was 107% and Washtenaw County was 113%. This alone raises suspicion of the accuracy and validity of the election.
- Complaintants, represented by the Great Lakes Justice Center, summarized the following issues:
- Defendants systematically processed and counted ballots from voters whose name failed to appear in either the Qualified Voter File (QVF) or in the supplemental sheets. When a voter’s name could not be found, the election worker assigned the ballot to a random name already in the QVF to a person who had not voted.
- Defendants instructed election workers to not verify signatures on absentee ballots, to backdate absentee ballots, and to process such ballots regardless of their validity. After election officials announced the last absentee ballots had been received, another batch of unsecured and unsealed ballots, without envelopes, arrived in trays at the TCF Center. There were tens of thousands of these absentee ballots, and apparently every ballot was counted and attributed only to Democratic candidates. Defendants instructed election workers to process ballots that appeared after the election deadline and to falsely report that those ballots had been received prior to November 3, 2020 deadline.
- Defendants systematically used false information to process ballots, such as using incorrect or false birthdays. Many times, the election workers inserted new names into the QVF after the election and recorded these new voters as having a birthdate of 1/1/1900.
- On a daily basis leading up to the election, City of Detroit election workers and employees coached voters to vote for Joe Biden and the Democrat party. These workers and employees encouraged voters to do a straight Democrat ballot. These election workers and employees went over to the voting booths with voters in order to watch them vote and coach them for whom to vote.
- Unsecured ballots arrived at the TCF Center loading garage, not in sealed ballot boxes, without any chain of custody, and without envelopes. Defendant election officials and workers refused to record challenges to their processes and removed challengers from the site if they politely voiced a challenge.
- After poll challengers started discovering the fraud taking place at the TCF Center, Defendant election officials and workers locked credentialed challengers out of the counting room so they could not observe the process, during which time tens of thousands of ballots were processed.
- Defendant election officials and workers allowed ballots to be duplicated by hand without allowing poll challengers to check if the duplication was accurate. In fact, election officials and workers repeatedly obstructed poll challengers from observing. Defendants permitted thousands of ballots to be filled out by hand and duplicated on site without oversight from poll challengers.
- Finally, the lawsuit calls for action to be taken quickly, in plenty of time before the December 8 election certification deadline.
The following is a timeline of key dates surrounding final certification of elections and vote of the Electoral College, prior to Inauguration Day:
- Dec. 8: “Safe Harbor” – date by which states must certify results and assign electors. If an election is in dispute, state legislatures may assign electors.
- Dec. 14: Electors meet in their states to cast votes for the president and Vice President.
- Jan. 3: New Congress is sworn in; 117th session starts.
- Jan. 6: Electoral votes are counted in House chamber by members of House and Senate; if neither candidate has 270 electoral college votes, the election is in dispute.
- Jan. 20: Inauguration Day – new president takes oath of office. In a disputed election, the House will appoint the president and Senate will choose the Vice President.
View the full Michigan LawsuitDownload
# # #
True the Vote (TTV) is an IRS-designated 501(c)3 voters' rights organization, founded to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. TTV empowers organizations and individuals across the nation to actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation. For more information, please visit www.truethevote.org .
