absentee ballots Archives - The Michigan Star

Trump’s Former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Files Post-Hearing Brief Poking Holes in the D.C. Bar’s Disciplinary Panel Findings

June 23, 2024 Rachel Alexander

Donald Trump’s former DOJ official, Jeffrey Clark, is fighting a recommendation from the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary panel to discipline him over his concerns about illegalities in the 2020 election. Last month, he filed a Post-Hearing Brief challenging a nonbinding preliminary finding of culpability for drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options in dealing with the irregularities.

Judge Orders New Democrat Mayoral Primary in Connecticut After Seeing ‘Shocking’ Ballot-Stuffing Videos

November 4, 2023 Michigan Star Staff

A Superior Court judge in Connecticut has ordered a new Democrat mayoral primary in Bridgeport after surveillance videos showed a Democrat official apparently stuffing absentee ballots into an outdoor ballot box ahead of the original primary.

Incumbent Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won the election by 251 votes out of 8,173 cast, and absentee ballots reportedly played a deciding role in his margin of victory.

Election Integrity Issues for November Elections Begin with Absentee Ballots

October 18, 2023October 17, 2023 Michigan Star Staff

As state and local elections are set to conclude on Election Day next month, election integrity issues have already begun with absentee ballots.

Counties across the country have already run into problems with absentee ballots for local November elections, as Republicans such as former President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate for Arizona, Kari Lake, have repeatedly criticized issues with absentee ballots.

In Disbarment Trial of Former Trump Attorney John Eastman, Kari Lake’s Attorney Goes over Significant Laws Broken in Various States During 2020 Election

October 8, 2023October 7, 2023 Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, wrapped up its seventh week on Friday, with more testimony from Kari Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen, and Eastman resuming the stand briefly at the end. Olsen discussed several laws he said he believes were violated by state election officials in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Olsen began testifying about a Motion for Leave to File a Bill of Complaint that he and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking to stop Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from certifying their 2020 election results due to multiple violations of state law and constitutional problems. One of the reasons he said he brought the complaint was that signature verification was halted in the 2020 election in Detroit.

Commentary: GOP Split on How to Handle Absentee Votes

July 12, 2023 RealClearWire

“I can’t begin to understand what ballot harvesting is,” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the former Republican House Speaker, said in an interview in the wake of a 2018 political upset in Orange County, California. Democrats had swept the congressional seats in one of California’s few Republican strongholds, largely due to a well-executed strategy of harvesting, or the collection and submission of ballots by someone other than the voter.

Nearly 300 Absentee Ballots from 2020 Election Found in Michigan County Storage Unit

June 11, 2023June 10, 2023 Just the News

Nearly 300 absentee ballots from the 2020 election were found in a Michigan county storage unit, according to a township supervisor.

The ballots were discovered in a storage unit in Genesee County, which encompasses the city of Flint, Mich., and Thetford Township.

New Study Identifies Eight Reforms that Took Florida’s Election Day from ‘Worst to First’

May 8, 2023 Just the News

Florida elections have come a long way since the “hanging chad” debacle of 2000. During the 2022 midterms, the state reported the results of all elections within two hours of polls closing, and a new report examines the election law changes that have been credited for the turnaround.

The 2000 presidential election between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore was decided by the 25 electoral votes from Florida, which didn’t announce its results until five weeks after Election Day.

Runbeck: Election Firm Involved in Maricopa County’s Alleged Chain-of-Custody Violations

January 17, 2023January 16, 2023 Admin

As Republican Kari Lake appeals a legal defeat in her lawsuit challenging certification of her narrow loss in Arizona’s Nov. 8 gubernatorial election, she is alleging that ballot chain-of-custody issues occurred at Runbeck Election Services, a company that municipalities across the country use for outsourcing election operations.

Lake is appealing a ruling against her last month in her suit against former Secretary of State and current Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County election officials demanding the election result be set aside due to alleged failures and misconduct by the county. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found that Lake failed to meet a legal standard of clear and convincing evidence that intentional misconduct changed the outcome of the election.

In her appeal, which challenges the legal standard applied by the trial court, Lake alleges that Maricopa County’s “massive violations of law and maladministration” included violating Arizona law’s chain-of-custody requirements by not having Election Day dropbox ballots counted at Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) before going to Runbeck.

Newly Released Drop Box Videos in Detroit Reveal Multiple Issues During November 2020 Election

April 23, 2022April 23, 2022 Laura Baigert

Three video clips from drop box locations in Detroit released this week reveal multiple issues that occurred with absentee ballots during the November 2020 election.

The absentee ballot drop box video evidence was shared Thursday in a series of three tweets by 45th President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman, Liz Harrington.

The Star News Network’s National Political Editor Neil McCabe Visits Georgia State Capitol to Question Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

March 12, 2022 JCarr

The Star News Network National Political Editor, Neil W. McCabe visited the Georgia State Capitol Thursday to ask Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger specific questions about the documents underpinning the 2020 election results.

Three Michigan Residents Charged with Absentee Ballot Voter Fraud, Following Concerning Trend

October 15, 2021October 14, 2021 Cooper Moran

Three Michigan residents have been charged with voter fraud involving absentee ballots by state officials, which follows a concerning trend over the past decade.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) alleges Trenae Myesha Rainey submitted two dozen absentee voter applications on behalf of an unknowing Father Murray Nursing Home resident in Macomb County. According to prosecutors, the Centerline clerk “noticed the application signatures didn’t match those in the Qualified Voter File,” WWMT reported.

Michigan Charges Three People for Alleged Election Fraud in 2020 Election

October 13, 2021October 12, 2021 The Center Square

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged three women with crimes related to attempted voter fraud in the 2020 general election.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Nessel argued the charges show that when “rare” election fraud happens, the current safeguards stop it.

“These cases highlight the scrutiny applications and ballots undergo throughout the election process, as well as the thorough investigative process that ensues when instances of attempted fraud are suspected,” Nessel said in a statement.

Michael Patrick Leahy Talks About Pop Up Nonprofits Used for Partisan Political Purposes

September 3, 2021September 2, 2021 JCarr

In a special interview, Thursday on First Principles with Phill Kline – host Kline talked with Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO, and editor-in-chief of The Star News Network who uncovered partisan non-profit popups in swing states and the importance of election integrity as the deciding fate of America’s constitutional Republic.…

Phill Kline to Michael Patrick Leahy: ‘Zuckerberg Money Paid for the People Who Boarded Up the Windows and Kicked America Out’

September 2, 2021September 2, 2021 JCarr

Thursday morning on First Principles, host Phill Kline welcomed The Star News Network’s CEO, Michael Patrick Leahy to the phone lines to discuss the influence of Zuckerberg’s money on the 2020 election and altered state election laws.

Analysis of DeKalb County, Georgia 2020 Election Absentee Ballot Transfer Forms Identifies Several Problems

August 30, 2021August 29, 2021 Laura Baigert

An analysis by The Georgia Star News of DeKalb County’s absentee ballot drop box transfer forms from the November 2020 election identified a number of problems that puts the documents out of compliance with the Georgia Board of Election Emergency Rule 183-1-14-1.8-.14.

The Star News reviewed 725 absentee ballot drop box transfer forms, obtained from the DeKalb County law department in response to an open records request, that were used by DeKalb County during the November 2020 election to document the chain of custody of the 61,731 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes .

Commentary: Election Rules Have to Mean Something

August 26, 2021March 17, 2022 RealClearWire

The rule of law must be respected for liberty to be protected. Changing the rules to achieve a desired outcome undermines both, and when this is done in the administration of elections, democracy itself is imperiled.

Unfortunately, the left shows no compunction about wielding power for partisan advantage, especially when it comes to election administration. They’ve even gone so far as to create new rules to suit their purposes, regardless of whether they possess the authority to do so.

Commentary: Georgia Conducting Secret 2020 Ballot Review –– Keeping Plaintiffs in the Dark

June 23, 2021June 22, 2021 RealClearWire

After several Fulton County, Ga., poll monitors testified last year that boxes of mail-in ballots for Joe Biden looked liked they’d been run through a photocopy machine, state investigators quietly broke the seal on one suspicious box and inspected the hundreds of votes it contained for signs of fraud, RealClearInvestigations has learned exclusively.

At the same time, a key whistleblower told RCI that state investigators pressured her to recant her story about what she and other poll monitors had observed — what they called unusually “pristine” mail-in ballots while sorting through them during last November’s hand recount.

“I felt I was under investigation,” said Suzi Voyles, a longtime Fulton County poll manager whose sworn affidavits have been used by election watchdogs to sue the county for access to the ballots in question.

Fulton County Again Fails to Deliver Missing Absentee Ballot Transfer Forms to The Georgia Star News

June 22, 2021June 21, 2021 Laura Baigert

Fulton County elections officials have failed to provide complete absentee ballot drop box transfer forms to The Georgia Star News that they provided to Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) News last week.

The Star News broke the news on Monday, June 14, that a Fulton County elections official admitted that “a few forms are missing” and that during a COVID outbreak at the Elections Preparation Center (EPC) “some procedural paperwork may have been misplaced,” with regard to 385 drop box transfer forms The Star News is still missing from 1,565 transfer forms Fulton County documented on a spreadsheet that tracked daily absentee ballot collections during the November 2020 election.

Georgia Public Broadcasting Reports Receiving Transfer Forms from Fulton County Not Provided to The Georgia Star News

June 19, 2021October 10, 2021 Laura Baigert

Georgia Public Broadcasting News, part of the taxpayer-funded network of state PBS television stations and NPR radio stations, reported Wednesday, June 16, 2021, that they received from Fulton County all but eight of the 385 missing absentee ballot drop box transfer forms The Georgia Star News has reported on.

After six months and several open records requests, 385 of the transfer forms that document the chain of custody of absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes and transferred to the county registrar during the November 3, 2020, election have still not been provided to The Star News.

Commentary: Voter Photo IDs Are the Rule in Europe and Elsewhere

June 2, 2021June 1, 2021 RealClearWire

Democrats and much of the media are pushing to make permanent the extraordinary, pandemic-driven measures to relax voting rules during the 2020 elections – warning anew of racist voter “suppression” otherwise. Yet democracies in Europe and elsewhere tell a different story – of the benefits of stricter voter ID requirements after hard lessons learned.

A database on voting rules worldwide compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center, which I run, shows that election integrity measures are widely accepted globally, and have often been adopted by countries after they’ve experienced fraud under looser voting regimes.

Britain is Europe’s outlier in generally not requiring voter IDs, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson aims to change that. He went to the polls in May with wife-to-be Carrie Symonds.

Judge Halts Audit of Georgia Ballots

May 27, 2021May 28, 2021 Cooper Moran

A judge in Georgia is temporarily stopping the audit on absentee ballots in Fulton County, Georgia that was allowed earlier last week.

Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero, the same judge who granted the initial audit, ruled as officials within the county have filed numerous motions in an attempt to stop the audit.

Four Months After 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia No Chain of Custody Documents Produced for 404,000 Absentee Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes; Fulton County One of 35 Scofflaw Counties

March 4, 2021March 3, 2021 Tiffany Morgan

Four months after the November 3, 2020 presidential election, state and county officials in Georgia have failed to produce chain of custody documents for an estimated 404,691 vote by mail absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes and subsequently delivered to county registrars for counting.

As of March 3, only 56 of Georgia’s 159 counties have provided ballot transfer form data to The Georgia Star News. The number of absentee by mail ballots delivered to registrars in those 56 counties total only 195,309, or 32.5 percent, of the estimated 600,000 absentee vote by mail ballots deposited in drop boxes and delivered to county registrars and counted in Georgia’s 2020 presidential.

Twitter, Media Prepping Public for Georgia Election Uncertainty

January 5, 2021January 5, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

Twitter paired up with far-left news outlet Reuters Tuesday to prepare the public for a drawn-out runoff election process in Georgia.

“Why the winners in Georgia runoffs might not be known for days,” a Twitter “moment” said.

Questions Surrounding Administration of ‘Rollover’ Absentee Ballots in Fulton County Remain Unanswered Days Before Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff Elections

December 31, 2020 Peter D'Abrosca

Just days before the statewide U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, confusion over obtaining absentee ballots remains.

“Georgians who are over the age of 65, members of the military or are physically disabled have the option of receiving absentee ballots for an entire election cycle by submitting a single application,” Atlanta radio station WABE reported in November.

DeKalb County Fails to Produce Drop Box Absentee Ballot Transfer Forms Required by State Election Board Emergency Rule

December 17, 2020December 16, 2020 Laura Baigert

With the January 5 run-off election for two U.S. Senate seats underway and election practices in Georgia for the November 3 presidential election remaining under intense scrutiny, DeKalb County has failed to produce the drop box absentee ballot transfer forms that are required under a State Election Board emergency rule.

Absentee ballot transfer forms are a critical piece in the chain of custody for votes deposited into the approximately 300 drop boxes deployed throughout the state of Georgia for the November election. DeKalb County, with its 34 drop box locations, accounted for more than 10 percent of Georgia’s absentee ballot drop boxes.

Investigation Finds Georgia Officials Decline to Prosecute or Correct the Double Voters They Catch

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 RealClearWire

More than 1,700 Georgians were singled out for illegally casting two ballots in 2020 elections – including last month’s hotly contested presidential race – but their fraudulent votes weren’t canceled out, according to state election officials. And so far, none of the cheaters has been prosecuted, raising concerns about continued fraud as Georgia prepares to vote again in twin U.S. Senate runoff elections next month.

New Georgia Lawsuit Claims Over 20K Ballots Were Cast by Voters Who Don’t Meet Residency Requirements

December 2, 2020December 1, 2020 Corinne Murdock

A new lawsuit claimed that over 20,000 ballots were cast in Georgia by voters who don’t meet residency requirements. The suit included data analysis from the Voter Integrity Project (VIP) and an affidavit from the Census Bureau Deputy Director for Data Benjamin Overholt.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by over 12,600 votes – less than the number of votes that the lawsuit flagged as potentially fraudulent.

Trump Campaign Estimates 38K to 45K Illegal Absentee Ballots Cast in Georgia Election

December 1, 2020November 30, 2020 Corinne Murdock

The Trump Campaign alleged that between 38,000 and over 45,000 illegal absentee ballot votes were cast in Georgia. According to their estimations, the campaign requested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger do a complete audit on the absentee ballot envelope signatures.

The letter marked the campaign’s fifth petition filed to Raffensperger.

Voter Integrity Project to Release Absentee Ballot Investigation Results by Friday

November 19, 2020November 18, 2020 Corinne Murdock

The Voter Integrity Project intends to release its complete investigation results in the coming days, including a report on mass amounts of dead voters.

Voter Integrity Project is the brainchild of Look Ahead America Executive Director and former Trump for President Data Chief and Strategist Matt Braynard. He started the project to discover if there was evidence that would lead to legal remedy or reforms for this election, mainly through affidavits and death certificates.

Pennsylvania Voters Describe Irregularities in Mail-in, Absentee Ballot Process

November 19, 2020November 18, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

The U.S. saw record numbers of mail-in votes cast in the 2020 election, driven largely by voter concerns that crowded polling places and long lines could act as major spreading centers for COVID-19.
Activists and public officials in the months leading up to the Nov. 3 election launched major informational campaigns and voting drives to help as many people as possible vote via mail. A reported 65 million ballots were cast by mail in the 2020 election, far outstripping earlier years.

Famed Attorney Lin Wood Blows the Doors off Alleged Georgia Vote Scam; Predicts New Election

November 17, 2020November 21, 2020 Corinne Murdock

Attorney Lincoln “Lin” Wood Jr. stated that Georgia may undergo another election if his lawsuit succeeds.

Wood is best known for his work with high-profile clients such as Richard Jewell, JonBenet Ramsey’s parents, Gary Condit, and Kobe Bryant’s alleged victim. Most recently, Wood made headlines for defending teenagers Nicholas Sandmann and Jacob Blake.

Georgia Audit Limits Monitors and Omits Absentee Ballot Signature Matching

November 14, 2020November 13, 2020 Corinne Murdock

Shortly before the Georgia ballot audit began, uproar broke out over the limited amount of monitors overseeing the process and omission of absentee ballot signature matching.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced a Risk Limiting Audit (RLA) on Wednesday. The audit consisted of a hand recount beginning Friday.

North Carolina Lawmakers Demand State Board of Elections Release Data on How Many Ballots are Outstanding

November 9, 2020November 8, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

North Carolina legislative leaders are demanding that the State Board of Elections release data on total outstanding ballots to provide transparency.

The co-chairs of the State Senate and House Elections Committees sent the demand in a letter Friday to Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which is controlled by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The announcement was made by N.C. Senate Leader Phil Berger.

USPS Sweeps Discover Thousands of Absentee Ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina

November 7, 2020November 6, 2020 Corinne Murdock

After conducting internal sweeps, the United States Postal Service (USPS) discovered over 2,000 more mail-in ballots for Pennsylvania and North Carolina on Thursday. D.C. Federal District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered twice-daily postal center sweeps after a reported 300,000 ballots were reported as undelivered. Workers accrued about 40,000 mail-in ballots altogether…

Michigan Secretary of State Spokesperson: Post Alleging 118-Year-Old Man Who Voted by Absentee Ballot Was Probably Just a Mistyped Entry

November 7, 2020November 6, 2020 Corinne Murdock

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s spokesperson stated that a viral post alleging that a 118-year-old man voted was true, but was probably due to a mistyped entry. Fact-checkers said that they discovered another individual with the same name in the area.

The post featured a screen recording: an individual typed in “William Bradley” into the state’s voter information page, followed by a birth date and zip code. Immediately, the search returned with Bradley’s city clerk information as well as a confirmation that an absentee ballot had been received.

Appeals Court Rules North Carolina Absentee Ballots Postmarked By November 3 Are Valid If They Arrive Before November 12

October 22, 2020October 21, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday, allowing it to count absentee ballots that arrive before Nov. 12 as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 3.

“All ballots must still be mailed on or before Election Day,” said Circuit Judge James Wynn in the court’s 12-3 ruling. “The change is simply an extension from three to nine days after Election Day for a timely ballot to be received and counted. That is all.”

Michigan Court Blocks Two-Week Absentee Ballot Extension

October 19, 2020October 18, 2020 The Associated Press

Absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted, the Michigan Court of Appeals said Friday, blocking a 14-day extension that had been ordered by a lower court and embraced by key Democratic officials in a battleground state.

Any changes must rest with the Legislature, not the judiciary, the Republican-appointed appeals court judges said in a 3-0 opinion.

Trump Campaign Sues to Block Mail-in Expansions in North Carolina

September 29, 2020September 28, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee on Saturday filed suit to prevent North Carolina officials from adopting measures that would allow a greater number of absentee ballots to be counted in November.

The State Board of Elections said Tuesday that it would allow November ballots with incomplete information to be fixed without requiring the voter to redo their ballot, leading Republicans to file suit arguing that the system would lead to “fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting,” the Associated Press reported.

Absentee Ballots Found in Wisconsin Ditch

September 27, 2020September 26, 2020 Michigan Star Staff

Three trays of mail, including absentee ballots were found in a Wisconsin ditch Tuesday, according to Police. Police are now investigating how the mail ended up there.

The Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office said the mail was found around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning near the intersection of highways 96 and CB, and was immediately returned to the U.S. Postal Service, Fox News reported.

In Battlegrounds, Absentee Ballot Rejections Could Triple

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 The Associated Press

Thousands of absentee ballots get rejected in every presidential election. This year, that problem could be much worse and potentially pivotal in hotly contested battleground states.

With the coronavirus creating a surge in mail-in balloting and postal delays reported across the country, the number of rejected ballots in November is projected to be significantly higher than previous elections.

Advocates Sound Alarm Over Wayne County’s Absentee Ballot Signature Verifications, Other Election Issues

August 23, 2020August 23, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

Election integrity advocates believe something fishy is going on in Wayne County with absentee ballots, and they say Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is undermining the security of the process there and across Michigan.

Glen Sitek of the Election Integrity Fund provided an exclusive statement to The Michigan Star.