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→Absent voter ballots were pre-dated
which the poll worker indicated she (the poll worker) was instructed to change the date ballots were received. See id. Jessica Connarn’s affidavit demonstrates that poll workers in Wayne County were pre-dating absent voter ballots, so that absent voter ballots received
which the poll worker indicated she (the poll worker) was instructed to change the date ballots were received. See id. Jessica Connarn’s affidavit demonstrates that poll workers in Wayne County were pre-dating absent voter ballots, so that absent voter ballots received
after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day could be counted.
after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day could be counted.
====Wayne County used ballot tabulators that were shown to miscount votes cast for President Trump and Vice President Pence and instead count them for the Biden-Harris ticket===
60. On the morning of November 4, unofficial results posted by the Antrim County Clerk showed that Joe Biden had over 7,700 votes — 3,000 more than Donald Trump. Antrim County voted 62% in favor of President Trump in 2016. The --Dominion Voting Systems]] election management system and voting machines (tabulators), which were used in Antrim County, are also used in many other Michigan counties, including
Wayne County, were at fault.
61. Secretary of State Benson released a statement blaming the county clerk for not updating certain “media drives,” but her statement failed to provide any coherent explanation of how the Dominion Voting Systems software and vote tabulators produced
such a massive miscount.<ref>https://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/Antrim_Fact_Check_707197_7.pdf (emphasis in original).</ref>
62. Secretary Benson continued: “After discovering the error in reporting theunofficial results, the clerk worked diligently to report correct unofficial results by reviewing the printed totals tape on each tabulator and hand-entering the results for each
race, for each precinct in the county.”
63. What Secretary Benson fails to address is what would have happened if no one “discover[ed] the error,” for instance, in Wayne County, where the number of registered voters is much greater than Antrim County, and where the tabulators were not individually tested.
64. Wayne County used the same Dominion voting system tabulators as did Antrim County, and Wayne County tested only a single one of its vote tabulating machines before the election. The Trump campaign asked Wayne County to have an observer physically present to witness the process. See Exhibit 4. Wayne County denied the Trump campaign the opportunity to be physically present. Representatives of the Trump campaign did have opportunity to watch a portion of the test of a single machine by Zoom video.
65. Tabulator issues occurred elsewhere in Michigan. In Oakland County, Democrat Melanie Hartman was wrongly declared the winner of the commissioner's race by a 104-vote margin. A computer issue at the Rochester Hills clerk’s office caused them to double-count some votes. After elections officials caught the error, Republican Adam Kochenderfer was declared the winner with 1,127 more votes than Hartman.<ref>https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/08/electionmisinformation-michigan-vote-antrim-county/6209693002/</ref>
66. These vote tabulator failures are a mechanical malfunction that, under MCL 168.831-168.839, requires a “special election” in the precincts affected.
67. Michigan’s Election Code, MCL 168.831-168.839, provides the board of canvassers shall order a special election as governed by those precincts affected by the defect or mechanical malfunction. The board of county canvassers “is responsible for resolving any claims that malfunctioning voting equipment or defective ballots may have affected the outcome of a vote on an office appearing on the ballot.” Michigan Manual for Boards of County Canvassers.
====The canvassing process in Michigan====
73. The federal provisions governing the appointment of electors to the [[Electoral College]], 3 U.S.C. 1-18, require Michigan [[Governor Whitmer]] to prepare a Certificate of Ascertainment by December 14, the date the Electoral College meets.
74. The United States Code (3 U.S.C. 5) provides that if election results are contested in any state, and if the state, prior to election day, has enacted procedures to settle controversies or contests over electors and electoral votes, and if these procedures have been applied, and the results have been determined six days before the electors’ meetings, then these results are considered to be conclusive and will apply in the counting of the electoral votes. This date (the “Safe Harbor” deadline) falls on December 8, 2020. The governor of any state where there was a contest, and in which the contest was decided according to established state procedures, is required (by 3 U.S.C. 6) to send a certificate describing the form and manner by which the determination was made to the Archivist as soon as practicable.
75. The members of the board of state canvassers are Democrat Jeannette Bradshaw, Republican Aaron Van Langeveide, Republican Norman Shinkle, and Democrat Julie Matuzak. Jeanette Bradshaw is the Board Chairperson. The members of the Wayne County board of county canvassers are Republican Monica Palmer, Democrat Jonathan Kinloch, Republican William Hartmann, and Democrat Allen Wilson. Monica Palmer is the Board Chairperson.
====COUNT I - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and the
corollary clause of Michigan’s Constitution====
Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the United States Constitution and the corollary clause of Michigan’s Constitution.
76. The [[Fourteenth Amendment]] to the United States Constitution provides “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” See also
''[[Bush v. Gore]]'', 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000) (“Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over that of another.”); ''Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections'', 383 U.S. 663, 665, (1966) (“Once the franchise is granted to the electorate, lines may not be drawn which are inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”).
77. Wayne County’s failure to allow challengers and its counting of ineligible and illegal ballots that did not comply with the Michigan Election Code diluted the lawful ballots of these plaintiffs and of other Michigan voters and electors in violation of the United States Constitution and the Michigan Constitution guarantee of equal protection.
78. [[President Trump]]’s campaign committee and these Michigan voters and challengers seek declaratory and injunctive relief requiring Secretary Benson to direct that Wayne County allow a reasonable number of challengers to meaningfully observe the conduct of the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers and that these canvassing boards exercise their duty and authority under Michigan law, which forbids certifying a tally that includes any ballots that were not legally cast.
79. In addition, President Trump’s campaign committee and these Michigan voters and challengers ask this Court to order that no ballot processed by a counting board in Wayne County can be included in the final vote tally unless a challenger was allowed to meaningfully observe the process and the handling and counting of the ballot.
80. Secretary Benson violated these Michigan voters’ right to equal protection by allowing Wayne County to process and count ballots in a manner that allowed ineligible ballots to be counted and by not requiring Wayne County to conduct the general election in a uniform manner as required by Michigan’s Election Code as was done in other jurisdictions.
====COUNT II - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated the rights of these Michigan voters under the federal Elections and Electors Clauses.====
81. The Electors Clause states that “[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors” for President. U.S. Const. art. II, §1, cl. 2 (emphasis added).
82. Likewise, the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that “[t]he Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” U.S. Const. art. I, §4, cl. 1 (emphasis added).
83. Michigan statutes enacted by the legislature protect the purity and integrity of elections by allowing ballot challengers to monitor the counting and processing of absentee ballots. Wayne County and Secretary Benson violated this statutory guarantee by preventing Republican challengers from meaningfully observing and participating in the ballot processing and counting process as is provided by MCL 168.730-736.
84. It is a violation of the rights of President Trump’s campaign committee to have federal elections for presidential electors governed under rules prescribed by the state legislature for Secretary Benson and Wayne County to count ballots that are not lawfully cast, and it is a violation of Michigan law for the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the Michigan board of state canvassers to certify an election tally that includes ineligible or unlawfully cast ballots.
====COUNT III - Secretary of State Benson and Wayne County violated Michigan’s Election Code. 85. MCL 168.730 provides:
<!--(1) At an election, a political party or [an organization] interested in preserving the purity of elections and in guarding against the abuse of the elective franchise, may designate challengers as provided in this act. Except as otherwise provided in this act, a political party [or interested organization] may designate not more than 2 challengers to serve in a precinct at any 1 time. A political party [or interested organization] may designate not more than 1 challenger to serve at each counting board.
(2) A challenger shall be a registered elector of this state. . . . A candidate for the office of delegate to a county convention may serve as a challenger in a precinct other than the 1 in which he or she is a candidate. . . .
(3) A challenger may be designated to serve in more than 1 precinct. The political party [or interested organization] shall indicate which precincts the challenger will serve when designating challengers under subsection (1). If more than 1 challenger of a political party [or interested organization] is serving in a precinct at any 1 time, only 1 of the challengers has the authority to initiate a challenge at any given time. The challengers shall indicate to the board of election inspectors which of the 2 will have this authority. The challengers may change this authority and shall indicate the change to the board of election inspectors.-->
86. Secretary of State Benson and the election officials in Wayne County violated MCL 168.730-168.734 by denying Republican challengers’ rights to meaningfully observe and participate in the ballot processing and counting process..
88. Wayne County’s and Secretary Benson’s denial of Republican challengers’ right to participate and observe the processing of ballots violates Michigan’s Election Code and resulting in the casting and counting of ballots that were ineligible to be counted and diluted or canceled out the lawfully cast ballots of other Michigan voters.
====PRAYER FOR RELIEF====
President Trump’s and [[Vice President Pence]]’s campaign committee and these Michigan citizens and voters ask this Court to enter a declaratory judgment in their favor as set forth in the foregoing counts and to grant the following injunctive relief:
A. An order directing Secretary Benson and the Michigan Board of StateCanvassers to not certify the election results until they have verified and confirmed that all ballots that were tabulated and included in the final reported election results were cast in compliance with the provisions of the Michigan Election Code as set forth herein.
B. An order prohibiting the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers from certifying any vote tally that includes:
:(1) fraudulently or unlawfully cast ballots;
:(2) ballots tabulated using the Dominion tabulating equipment or software without the accuracy of individual tabulators having first been
determined;
:(3) any ballots that were received after Election Day (November 3, 2020) where the postmark or date of receipt was altered to be an earlier date before Election Day; and
:(4) any ballots that were verified or counted when challengers were excluded from the room or denied a meaningful opportunity to observe
the handling of the ballot and poll book as provided in MCL 168.733.
C. An order directing the Wayne County board of county canvassers to summon and open the ballot boxes and other election material, as provided in MCL 168.823, and, in the presence of challengers who can meaningfully monitor the process, to review the poll lists, absent voter ballot envelopes bearing the statement required by MCL 168.761, and other material provided in MCL 168.811.
D. An order directing that challengers be allowed to be physically present with a meaningful opportunity to observe when the accuracy of each piece of tabulating equipment is determined, and if the accuracy of each piece of tabulation equipment used by Wayne County is not confirmed to be accurate, an order directing a special election be held in the affected precincts as provided by MCL 168.831-168.839.
E. An order directing the board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers, with challengers present and meaningfully able to observe, to obtain and review the video of unattended remote ballot drop boxes.
===Ballot dump===
===Ballot dump===