Michigan GOP Lawmakers Cry Foul Over Election
Republican lawmakers at the State Capitol are reminding Michigan residents that the Presidential election is far from over. Despite some media organizations projecting Democrat Joe Biden as the winner, the GOP lawmakers aren’t so convinced. Many of their counterparts nationwide are in agreement that what are loosely characterized as voting irregularities don’t add up to a fair and legal election.
The Republicans hold the majority in both the State House and State Senate at the state capitol in Lansing. A rare joint hearing of the State Senate and State House Oversight committees got underway in response to widespread claims of voting issues. Some flat out calling them crimes.
Marshall Republican State House member Matt Hall, who won re-election to his seat on Tuesday, is chair of the House Oversight Committee. He issued a weekend statement about the issues he and fellow GOP lawmakers want to sort out, and quickly, saying, ““I have gotten hundreds of calls and emails from people in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties who say they have no faith in our election system based on what they have seen since Tuesday. Other legislators have had similar discussions with residents in their communities. People have seen news reports of challengers being denied access to polling locations. They see windows being covered up to prevent people from watching ballots be examined and tabulated.” Hall goes on to say, “Software errors have mistakenly awarded votes to a candidate. These instances and images have led to controversy, confusion and frustration – and it certainly is not a model of transparency.”
Some Democratic lawmakers are calling the legislative investigation in Michigan a political stunt. And some observers including many media outlets claim there is no evidence whatsoever showing anything wrong happened. But those claims are countered by report after report of things happening with votes that shouldn’t have happened involving paper absentee ballots, and those processed by machines that didn’t do the job properly. Mounting lawsuits and the involvement of the U.S. Supreme Court point to a long and contentious battle over the White House and early projections hailing potentially the wrong winner.