Michigan Board Of State Canvassers Reject Michigan’s Bureau of Elections Throws Unlock MI Petition To The Courts
The Democrats on Michigan's Board of State Canvassers failed to do their jobs and rejected the Michigan Bureau of Elections certification of the Unlock Michigan petition. It is my understanding that this rarely happens if ever. The board consists of two Democrat and two Republican members.
The current members of the Board of State Canvassers are:
- Chair: Norman D. Shinkle – Republican
- Vice-Chair: Julie Matuzak – Democrat
- Member: Jeannette Bradshaw – Democrat
- Member: Tony Daunt – Republican
The two Democrat members were the members who voted against the Michigan Bureau of Elections and thus did not trust the investigation performed by Michigan’s Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel who after a 7- 8 month investigation found no criminal activity.
What was their proposal? Here it is right from the Unlock Michigan website:
“An initiation of legislation to repeal the Emergency Powers of Governor Act, 1945 PA 302, MCL 10.31 to 10.33, entitled “An act authorizing the governor to proclaim a state of emergency, and to prescribe the powers and duties of the governor with respect thereto; and to prescribe penalties.”
It does one thing: it repeals the law that allows a Michigan Governor to govern by decree, without end, and without accountability. With the repeal of this 1945 law that has long outlived its usefulness, Governor Whitmer and all future governors will retain important powers to respond in case of legitimate emergencies, but they’ll have to work with the legislature to respond to long-term problems.”
The Michigan Bureau of Elections, as they typically do, reviewed a small sample of 506 signatures out of the 538,345 that were turned into the state government. Of those 506 signatures, they determined that 434 or 86% were considered valid. Applying that 86% validity rate against the total 538,345 signatures submitted by Unlock Michigan translates to 460,358 valid signatures. That is 120,311 more signatures than the 340,047 needed for the Unlock Michigan ballot proposal to obtain certification.
The spokesman for Unlock Michigan Fred Wszolek sent out the following press release:
“The Board of State Canvassers failed to do its legal duty today to certify the UnlockMichigan petition. Predictable partisanship from two members -- in clear violation of the law and every court precedent -- disenfranchises more than 540,000 voters who want their voice heard.
There is no doubt that Unlock MI submitted sufficient signatures to require certification. There is no doubt what the Board's clear legal duty was. Do we need to seek sanctions and court costs against individual canvassers to get them to start doing their legal duty?
These rogue board members know the rules, yet they posture as being in favor of new rules. What they really stand for the suppression of the voice of Michigan voters. Once again the Michigan Supreme Court will have to smack down these board members who refused to do their jobs.”
The group opposing the Unlock position called Keep Michigan State put out their own press release:
“We applaud the members of the Board of State Canvassers who did the right thing today by voting against certifying the Unlock Michigan petition and commend them for demanding an independent investigation of Unlock Michigan’s sleazy, underhanded and illegal tactics, and that the Board do its business under properly adopted rules. Unlock Michigan made a mockery of the petition gathering effort and a mockery of our election process with their illegal and unscrupulous tactics and we applaud Board Members Matuzak and Bradshaw for safeguarding our democracy and standing up for the integrity of our election process.”
I was informed by the Unlock Michigan group that no “independent investigation” was called for by the board but only by the Democrat members. I was also told by Mr. Wszolek that when the Democrat members were asked the question of who will pay for their “independent investigation” they are calling for they said we do not know this has never happened before.
According to Unlock Michigan’s spokesmen Fred Wszolek, the next step is to take the board to court, which they fully intend to do so.
The next and final stop on this roller coaster is going directly to the Michigan Supreme Court and that is where this is heading.
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