Wayne Co. GOP Canvassers swear they were forced to certify vote

In yesterday's update to the continuing drama of the attempted theft of the November 3rd presidential election, Walt wondered what happened in the office of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers after the lights went out. Now we know!

Last night the two Republican members of the board swore affidavits saying they were bullied and coerced into certifying the election. They had voted against certification on Tuesday, but changed their minds in a darkened room Tuesday night.  It was then annoounced that the vote to certify the results was unanimous.

Townhall reports Board chair Monica Palmer and GOP member William Hartmann swore that the county's corporate counsel, Janet Anderson-Davis, advised board members that their job was "ministerial" and any concerns they expressed were outside of the board's authority.

In her affidavit, Ms Palmer swore that "After the vote, public comment period began and dozens of people made personal remarks against me and Mr. Hartmann. The comments made accusations of racism and threatened me and members of my family. The public comment continued for over two hours and I felt pressured to continue the meeting without a break."

Mr Hartmann, for his part, swore that "Late in the evening, I was enticed to agree to certify based on the promise that a full and independent audit would take place. I would have not have agreed to the certification but for the promise of an audit. Vice-Chairman Jonathan Kinloch then assured us that if we voted to certify the election, a full, independent, and complete audit of Detroit's election, would be undertaken. I relied on this assurance in coming to an agreement. Without this assurance, I would not have agreed to certify Wayne County on November 17th."

Click on the link above to read the rest of the Townhall story. Will the will of the people (real live people, not dead ones) be subverted? Will Democrats succeed in stealing the 2020 election? Will justice and common sense prevail? Watch this space!

UPDATED: Wayne Co. GOP election officials flip-flop, certify vote

Cazart! Cracks are starting to appear in the "sure it was a fair election" stonewall. Officials in Wayne County MI - home to the city of Detroit, in whose cemeteries reside 1000s of voters -- have refused to certify the results of the November 3rd election.

In a vote along party lines, the Board of Canvassers deadlocked 2-2, which means the certification process cannot go forward. Just The News says that the decision (or lack thereof) "injects new drama into a legal fight waged by President Trump's campaign in several battleground states."

Both Republican members of the Board refused to certify the results after discrepancies were discovered in absentee ballot poll books. Similar problems were discovered in the county's summer primary and the November 2016 election but did not affect the board's vote then. But to have this happen three times? It's either incompetence or -- dare we name it? -- fraud!

The dramatic deadlock came just a week after a city of Detroit elections worker named Jessy Jacob submitted an affidavit saying she personally witnessed and was instructed by supervisors to backdate absentee ballots the day after the election to make votes look like they had arrived on or before November 3rd. Jacob testified she believed thousands of ballots had been altered.

Under Michigan law, a county that fails to canvass within 14 days after the election must yield its documentation to the Secretary of State's office and Board of State Canvassers to determine if the results should be accepted. If the state board follows suit, the Republican state legislature will select the electors. So stay tuned. The fat lady hasn't sung yet!

UPDATE ADDED 18/11/20: Bad news, campers. Late last night, when we were all in bed, the Republican canvassers flipped and voted with the Democrats, while the live video stream was down. 

The Detroit News reported that "After hours of angry responses from Wayne County residents, the change in course was approved by the two Republican and two Democratic canvassers with the demand that the Secretary of State's office conduct a 'comprehensive audit' of precincts with unexplained out-of-balance tallies."

It is not clear if the approval was conditional on the "comprehensive audit", or if the investigation was merely requested. Also unclear is what happened after the lights went out. In Motown, strange things happen in the dark.