(WWJ) -- Three women from metro Detroit are facing election fraud charges in connection with the absentee ballot process during the 2020 Presidential Election, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Monday.
Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced updates to the three cases on Monday, saying the charges help prove the state’s election process is secure, though some attempts at fraud sometimes occur.
“The outcomes prove the state’s signature matching standards and other election security checks and balances catch instances of wrongdoing, prompt thorough investigations and result in appropriate action,” a joint press release said.
Nessel says 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." More than 250 audits in the wake of the 2020 election dismissed claims of widespread fraud in the state, officials said.
Officials with the Department of State and Michigan State brought the cases to the Attorney General’s office after finding some red flags during the election process. The AG’s office says procedurally, many reports of voter fraud are often first reported to local law enforcement or the Michigan Bureau of Elections for initial investigation, before being routed to the Michigan State Police (MSP) or Department of Attorney General (DAG), if investigators believe criminal activity occurred.
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Among the three women facing charges is Trenae Myesha Rainey of Macomb County. Nessel’s office says the BOE was contacted by the Centerline Clerk’s office back in October 2020 after discovering some issues with a stack of about two dozen absentee voter applications that were dropped off for processing.
During a crosscheck of the signatures on the applications with voter signatures in the Qualified Voter File (QVF) -- as is the process for all absentee ballots, to ensure authenticity -- the clerk noticed the signatures did not match.
A team of investigators with the AG’s office was assigned to look into the matter last November, officials said.
All of those applications came from Father Murray Nursing Home, an assisted-living facility in the area, and investigators determined the applications were for residents who had not yet told staff whether they wished to vote in the 2020 election.
Instead, investigators determined Rainey, 28, who worked at the nursing home, did not contact the residents as set by procedure and instead filled out the applications and forged the resident’s signature to each application. She then turned the applications over to another employee who was instructed to deliver the applications to the Centerline Clerk, according to Nessel’s office.
Investigators determined Rainey decided where the residents should be registered and whether the resident should be provided with an absent voter ballot, primarily without first consulting the resident.
Rainey is facing three counts of election law forgery and three counts of forging signature on absentee ballot applications, all five-year felonies. Rainey’s arraignment, set for Macomb County’s 37th District Court, has not yet been scheduled.
The Attorney General says 59-year-old Carless Clark is also facing election fraud charges in Wayne County.
Clark is accused of forging her grandson’s signature on an absentee ballot. Officials say the BOE contacted the Enforcement Division of DOS in April 2021 to investigate the case of double voting. A signature review determined the signatures did not match, and also found Clark’s grandson voted in-person at his polling place on election day.
She admitted to signing his absentee ballot because she was concerned he wouldn’t have enough time to vote on election day.
Clark is facing one count of impersonating another to vote at an election -- a four-year felony -- and one count of election law forgery, a five-year felony. Arraignment in Wayne County’s 36th District Court has not yet been scheduled.
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The third metro Detroit woman facing charges is Nancy Juanita Williams, who is facing a much lengthier list of charges than the other two cases.
Officials say Williams’ case of attempted fraud came on the radar of the BOE in October 2020 after receiving similar inquiries from local election administrators through the QVF Help Desk.
The inquiries centered on applications for absentee ballots signed with an “X” and requesting that the ballot be mailed to the business address of Guardian and Associates in Oak Park, officials said.
After discussing the matter with State elections officials, BOE referred the review to MSP for a criminal investigation and investigators determined that Williams, 55, came up with an elaborate plan to obtain and control absentee ballots for legally incapacitated people she cared for.
Officials say williams fraudulently submitted 26 absentee ballots to nine identified city and township clerks throughout Oakland and Wayne Counties, seeking to have absentee ballots for those individuals mailed directly to her.
Williams also allegedly submitted separate voter registration applications for each person, all without consent or understanding of the person under her care, according to the AG’s office.
State police ultimately referred Williams’s case to DAG in May 2021, resulting in the following charges:
-- 14 counts of false statement in absentee ballot application, a 90-day misdemeanor
-- 14 counts of forging signature on absentee ballot application, a five-year felony
-- 14 counts of election law forgery, also a five-year felony.
Williams is facing one count of each in 28th District Court in Southfield, two counts of each in 17th District Court in Redford Township, two counts of each in 29th District Court in the city of Wayne, three counts of each in 18th District Court in Westland and six counts of each in 46th District Court in Southfield.
The only case in which an arraignment has been scheduled for Williams is in Redford’s 17th District Court on Nov. 2 at 8:45 a.m.
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