Two Republicans say they want to rescind their certification of the Wayne County election, which delivered the heavily Democratic area to Joe Biden, bringing yet another twist to the usually mundane vote certification process.
Their change of heart came after President Donald Trump reached out to them personally, per the Associated Press.
First the pair, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, voted against certifying the votes, putting the election results in a 2-2 deadlock with the four-member board of two Democrats and two Republicans. Then after a public outcry, they re-voted and agreed to certify the ballots cast in Wayne County.
The news twisted again when they filed an affidavit saying they were bullied into the certification and had received death threats ... and wanted to return to their original vote. “We deserve better — but more importantly, the American people deserve better — than to be forced to accept an outcome achieved through intimidation, deception, and threats of violence,” the pair said in a statement. “Wayne County voters need to have full confidence in this process."
They're being cheered on by President Donald Trump, who continued to take aim at the tally that delivered a hefty win for Joe Biden. He tweeted about it again Thursday morning and the tweet was immediately flagged by Twitter as fraudulent.
The president added that his lawyers are holding an "important" news conference at noon today, which he claims will give him a clear path to victory. The president has fraudulently claimed victory in Michigan and other states he lost numerous times already and every case his campaign filed attempting to stop votes or ban ballots has been tossed out of court.
In Wayne County, it remains to be seen if Palmer and Hartmann can legally change their vote, and right now there is no meeting scheduled for the Board of Canvassers. If the vote was not certified, it would go to the state for a decision.
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Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has been very vocal in the assertion that Michigan's vote was legal, fair and not fraudulent. She said any claim to the contrary is an "attack on democracy."
So, why are the Republicans doing this? The New York Times reported Hartmann and Palmer said they were concerned about small discrepancies between the number of votes cast and the number of people precinct officials recorded as having voted.
"These sorts of inconsistencies can happen if, for instance, a voter checks in but then gets frustrated by a long line and leaves," the Times explained, adding, "They were nowhere near significant enough in Wayne County, or anywhere else in Michigan, to change President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory — Mayor Mike Duggan of Detroit said they involved just 357 votes out of about 250,000 cast in the city — and canvassing boards routinely certify election results under similar circumstances."
Wayne County Board of Canvassers Vice President Jonathan Kinlock called it "startling" these board members would "even entertain the idea of disenfranchising, of not including, the lawfully cast ballots for a predominantly Black community." He says there's no legal reason to rescind their vote.