It’s been a wild 24 hours or so in Wayne County, Michigan, where the Board of Canvassers initially refused to certify the county’s results from the 2020 General Election, as Nick Arama covered. The vote was 2-2, along party lines, with the Republican members voting against certification. Those members, William Hartmann and Monica Palmer, said there were too many irregularities in the results, including that “absentee ballot poll books at 70% of Detroit’s 134 absentee counting boards were found to be out of balance without explanation.”

After the vote, other members of the board and the public – and even Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson – harassed and threatened Hartmann and Palmer for nearly two hours until the two relented and voted to certify. Here’s one example of the harassment:

VIDEO: Wayne County Board of Canvasser Dem @NedStaebler admits that only 72% ballots are “recount-able” but says votes need 2B certified because it was worse during the primary.

He then intimidates GOPers @HartmannDude and @monicaspalmer into submission by calling them racists. pic.twitter.com/wvKqgmZNNg

— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) November 18, 2020

Only 72 percent of the ballots are recountable? Excuse me? And that’s okay because it was worse in the primary? Absolutely unacceptable, and not the norm in Michigan according to a longtime precinct chair who spoke to RedState on condition of anonymity. The woman, whom we’ll refer to as Jane, said that 100 percent of the ballots should be recountable and that she personally has never seen an instance in which they weren’t. (Note: Jane spoke to me and my “Sounds Right” co-host, Scott Hounsell, Wednesday afternoon at length, and that episode will be posted by Thursday morning.)

 

During the meeting Benson tweeted threatening to have the state Board of Canvassers take over the process in Wayne County unless the board voted to certify.