(WWJ) – The Michigan Board of State Canvassers on Monday officially certified the state’s 2022 midterm election results, despite calls from losing candidates not to do so.
Prior to 2020, the board was an obscure lever of state government, but it made national headlines after the contentious 2020 election. Monday’s unanimous vote by two Democrats and two Republicans was the first time the board certified a general election since then.
On a new Daily J podcast, WWJ’s Zach Clark looks at what was a chaotic process in Lansing on Monday and digs into whether the board even needs to exist.
What exactly is the Board of State Canvassers? The state’s website says the board’s main job is “Canvassing and certifying statewide elections, elections for legislative districts that cross county lines and all judicial offices except Judge of the Probate Court,” among other duties.
In other words, the board is a “rubber stamp” of sorts – a crucial rubber stamp. While the official election results hinged on the board’s certification Monday, there were some who testified in hopes of keeping that from happening.
That includes Republican Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo, who said “the systemic corruption in our election system touches all races.”
“It just doesn’t touch statewide races. It touches our mayoral races, it touches our county commissioner races, and these individuals who we put into office make decisions over our lives. So I am totally against the certification of this election,” Karamo said.
One-time Republican gubernatorial hopeful Donna Brandenburg once again claimed the state’s election was fraudulent.
“Every single person that touched this is guilty of treason. We stand together and right now, y’all are being seen as the enemy of the people,” she said. “And there’s not one of us that’s gonna back down on that from now until Christ comes back.”
It wasn’t just candidates who spoke against certification, though, as one man was removed from the room after causing a commotion during public comment while evoking ideas of conspiracy theories to steal the election.
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