In 2018, a Michigan ballot initiative to expand voting rights passed overwhelmingly with bi-partisan support. Michigan now allows absentee voting for anyone requesting an absentee ballot. (Requirements for mail-in voting and absentee voting are exactly the same.)
To vote by paper ballot, go to the Michigan Secretary of State Website on Voter Information and follow these steps to make sure your ballot is counted:
- Register to vote or confirm that you have already registered;
- Apply for an absentee ballot;
- Follow the instructions carefully and fill out the absentee ballot;
- Mail it in or, better yet, hand deliver your ballot to your local polling place.
Much of the anxiety being whipped up about voter fraud with absentee or mail-in ballots has itself a whiff of fraud about it or at least an apparent intent to deliberately frighten and mislead voters.
This article from the Hill, “Let's put the vote-by-mail 'fraud' myth to rest” by Amber McReynolds and Charles Stewart III, 4/28/20, sums it up in the first two paragraphs:
“Widespread calls to conduct the 2020 elections by mail, to protect voters from COVID-19 exposure, are being met with charges that the system inevitably would lead to massive voter fraud. This is simply not true.
“Vote fraud in the United States is exceedingly rare, with mailed ballots and otherwise. Over the past 20 years, about 250 million votes have been cast by a mail ballot nationally. The Heritage Foundation maintains an online database of election fraud cases in the United States and reports that there have been just over 1,200 cases of vote fraud of all forms, resulting in 1,100 criminal convictions, over the past 20 years. Of these, 204 involved the fraudulent use of absentee ballots; 143 resulted in criminal convictions.”
Read the full article for details.
Then there was this warning about voter fraud in Michigan tweeted by Donald Trump, Jr. in August 2020:
“‘8% of the votes cast’ in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary, 864 mailed ballots, came from dead voters. ‘NOTHING TO SEE HERE!!!’”. None of this was true.
This article from the Detroit Free Press explains what happened in the August 4th, 2020 primary: “Donald Trump Jr. tweets about dead people voting in Michigan. We fact-checked the claim.” by Clara Hendrickson, 8/18/20:
“On Aug. 14, the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office released preliminary data on the number of rejected ballots from the state’s Aug. 4 primary. In total, over 10,000 absentee ballots were rejected, including nearly 850 ballots cast by voters who died before Election Day. ..
"Nearly 60% of them were rejected because they arrived late. Absentee ballots must be received by the voter’s clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted
“The remaining rejected ballots were deemed ineligible for a range of reasons, including missing or mismatched signatures or voters who changed addresses.”
“Of the rejected ballots, 846 had to be tossed because the voters were deceased. These were not instances of someone completing and mailing an absentee ballot by stealing the identity of a deceased voter. [emphasis added] Rather, as Benson’s Aug. 14 release notes, they were cast by eligible Michigan voters who died after casting their ballots but before Election Day."
The Secretary of State said that ..."Based on the total of counted and uncounted votes, the number of ballots from deceased voters accounted for about 0.03% of votes cast, meaning Trump overstated it by a factor of more than 200. And none of them were counted toward the final results.” [emphasis added]
“...Rather than indicating instances of fraud, the rejected ballots show the state’s ability to detect and discount ineligible ballots.”
And finally, we get to some real voter and election fraud that should give purveyors of fear and misinformation pause. It is not a good look for the Republican Party:
Although there have been herculean efforts to find voter fraud where it does not exist, there is one voter fraud database that is linked to on the White House Website. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, went looking for voter fraud and came up with underwhelming results, but at least the database reveals some of the details of voter or election fraud when it occurs.:
The Heritage Foundation “A Sampling of Recent Election Fraud Cases from Across the United States” explains the data it has collected:
“…This database is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list. It does not capture all cases and certainly does not capture reported instances that are not investigated or prosecuted. It is intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities in the election system and the many ways in which fraud is committed.”
Let’s take a look at the Michigan database.
The most recent case on the list involves a 2016 felony conviction for Brandon Hall:
“Brandon Hall was convicted of ten counts of ballot petition fraud stemming from the 2012 election. [Republican] Chris Houghtaling, who sought to become a candidate for the Ottawa County District Court, hired Hall to acquire the necessary signatures for his candidacy; Houghtaling reportedly did not care whether the signatures were collected legally or illegally, and even assisted in Hall's crime by providing him old 2010 petitions to copy. Hall, realizing he did not collect enough signatures, used a phone book to complete the rest. Hall's friend, Zachary Savage, assisted with the fraud, but prosecutors granted him immunity in exchange for his testimony. Hall appealed his conviction, which was affirmed. He is awaiting sentencing. “
That name sounded familiar. I wracked my brain trying to remember where I had heard it before. It finally came to me. Brandon Hall was one of the leaders of the protests in Lansing in April 2020, objecting to the governor’s stay-home order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. According to this article in the Detroit News, “Protesters gather outside the governor's Lansing residence over stay-home order” by Beth LeBlanc, 4/23/20:
“Protesters carried American flags, Trump 2020 signs and Make America Great Again banners as they stood on sidewalks and in the governor's gated driveway. Some protesters carried firearms while others waited in their cars, honking horns in the residential neighborhood.”
“…Organizer Brandon Hall of Petoskey estimated roughly 100 people attended the afternoon protest ...
"'It's time to open Michigan now,' said Hall, a 30-year-old conservative activist who was long based out of West Michigan. 'People who want to stay on house arrest can stay on house arrest, and people who want to work can work.'.
And then comes the blast of bad news from the past: “A month in jail for GOP politico convicted of 2012 election fraud” by Stephen Kloosterman, 12/27/16 and updated 1/19/19.
It only gets worse:
“It's not the first time Hall has brushed with the law.
“In 2010, Hall was a Grand Haven School Board Member when $750 went missing from an elementary school's T-shirt sale to benefit a national charity. Hall was convicted of stealing and sentenced to two years of probation.
“Hall was also once the subject of a campaign finance complaint from a City Council candidate that his political action committee endorsed, the Grand Haven Tribune reported.”
In case you are interested, here is a YouTube video of Hall’s sentencing hearing on Dec 27, 2016. He appears to be genuinely sorry that he was caught.
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