By, Michelle Hazekamp
December 31, 2024
How on Earth Did Sleepy Joe Win the 2020 Election?
The nation was shocked when they woke up the morning November 4, 2020 to learn that a coup had taken place to steal the Nov. 3, 2020 Presidential Election. What was equally shocking was that the "basement bandit," Joe Biden, had acquired 80 million votes, more than any President to date, all while napping. The 2020 "steal" awakened us to the horrific reality and magnitude into our election systems vulnerabilities, but also produced an unstoppable driving force of patriots to get involved and put integrity back into our election process. We have learned a lot about the election process since the 2020 Presidential Election.
Muskegon County is No Stranger to "Election Interference!"
Muskegon County is certainly no exception, as we too have been no stranger to election interference, past and present, putting us in the spotlight of the local and national news. Our current County Clerk, Karen Buie and Election Coordinator, Lori Hayes, have vowed that Muskegon County will hold fair elections on their watch, yet during the recent 2024 Primary Election in August, the City of Muskegon sent the wrong absentee ballots to their residents. Once this had been discovered by a few voters, the city then proceeded to admit their mistake and send new, corrected absentee ballots to their registered voters via mail, however, those who had already voted and returned their ballots were not able to spoil their original ballots in exchange for a corrected ballot. Many requested an election "do-over" for the City of Muskegon, however that was denied, and this huge mistake most likely caused some of the candidates their election race and certainly was not "fair" to anyone effected.
Not the First "Hiccup" to Occur in the 2024 Election
Mailing out letters and new ballots was a lame attempt at rectifying such a huge mistake, but if this was the first "hiccup" to the 2024 Presidential Election in Muskegon County, it was not the last. During the early morning hours after the General Election on November 6, an unsuspecting "flip" occured with the Muskegon county-wide races. Republicans were leading in every county-wide race, some quite significantly, until around 3:00am after the City of Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, Norton Shores and Egelston Township had finally submitted their election results to the County Clerk's office. It was then that the Democrats took the lead in the following county-wide races by narrow margins and were declared the official winners.
Elected Offices & Candidates Effected:
County Clerk: Karen Buie - incumbent (D) and Eric Rothoff (R).
Sheriff: Micheal Poulin - incumbant (D) and Max Riekse (R).
County Treasurer: Tony Moulatsiotis - incumbent (D) and Kent Boersema (R).
County Register of Deeds: William Moulatsiotis - incumbent (D) and Jason Hall (R).
County Commissioner (4th District): Dan Potts (R) and Chris McGuigan (D).
Muskegon County Water Resource Commissioner (formerly known as Drain Commissioner): Zach Lahring (R) and Stephanie Barrett (D).
Can Odd "Patterns" Prove Credibility to Foul Play?
This odd "flip" has been a reoccurring pattern in Muskegon County elections. Zach Larhing, Republican & current County Commissioner (until January 1st, 2025), was in the lead for Water Resource Commissioner long after the closing of the election on November 5, then lost his race by a total of 902 (1%) votes during the middle of the night. This number may seem large enough to alleviate suspicions of foul play, but when looking at past and present patterns, the suspicion becomes credible. For one to hold a county-wide lead through the entire election, a sudden flip such as this becomes statistically impossible. The same is true with regard to the other county-wide races listed, as it is typical for the current trend to continue, thus Republicans should have continued receiving the majority (no matter how narrow) of the votes. Given that the demographics of those Cities and township mentioned above are primarily Democrat, the most obvious and suspicious anomaly is that this flip occurred in multiple county-wide races at the same time.
Late Night "Flip" Warrants a Re-Count
Because this was such a noticeable irregularity, Mr. Lahring decided to file for an election re-count of the Water Resource Commissioner race. He chose 34 precincts that he percieved were most suspicious of possible ballot miscounting and possible intent to controll the outcome of the election . The recount consisted of the following municipalities and their precincts and included In-person voter ballots and absentee ballots counted by the assigned precinct Absentee Voter Counting Boards (AVCB) on election day.
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City of Montague - Precinct 1 in-person & AVCB (Absent Voter Counting Board)
City of North Muskegon - Precinct 1 in person & AVCB
City of Norton Shores - Precincts 1 in-person & AVCB, 2AVBC, 3 in-person & AVCB, 4AVCB, 5AVCB, 6AVCB, 7AVCB
City of Roosevelt Park - Precincts 1 & AVCB
City of Whitehall - Pct. 1 & AVCB
Dalton Township - Pct. 1 & 3
Egelston Township - Pct. 1 & 2
Fruitport Charter Township - 1AVCB, 2AVCB, 3AVCB, 4AVCB, 5AVCB, 6AVCB
Laketon Township - 1AVCB, 2AVCB
Muskegon Charter Township - 1 in-person & AVCB, 2 in-person & AVCB, 3AVCB, 4AVCB
The date set for the re-count was December 9th by the County Clerk, Karen Bui and Lori Hayes, who also assigned the counting boards consisiting of one Republican and one Democrat for each counting table. Mr. Lahring sought out and obtained poll watchers/challengers to witness the ballot counting and challenge any suspicious ballots. Each counting table was assigned to count one precinct at a time, until all the precincts were finished being re-counted. The County Board of Canvassers were also present to observe and answer any questions that may have arose regarding ballots. Later, after the re-count was completed, a report was issued by the Election Coordinator, Lori Hayes.
Errors in Documentation
As each counting table recieved the sealed bags containing the requested ballots, issues immediately began to arise. One table receiving 2 bags containing all the Absentee Ballots from Muskegon Charter Township Precinct 1, had one bag with a seal and number different from what was recorded in the poll book, and the second bag was mis-labeled as Precinct 7, however the seal number matched what was documented in the Pct. 1 poll book. ~When closing an election on election night, all ballots are placed into bags, or containers, and "locked" with a seal that contains a number on it. This number is then written in the poll book by an election inspector, and verified by all election workers present with their signatures in the poll book as witnesses. Because of this, Pct. 1 for Muskegon Charter Twp. was deemed "uncountable," along with five others for similar reasons, with the exception of one.
Election Inspectors in Violation of Election Laws!
Out of the 34 precincts assigned to the re-count, six precincts were deemed "uncountable." Five of the uncountable precincts were the result of human error with mismatched seal numbers and other documentation errors. However, the exception and most serious finding was Roosevelt Park. Roosevelt Park, Pct. 1 had bags with no seals or documentation of any sort in the poll book, including signatures from all of the Election Inspector who worked in Roosevelt Park on election day. There should have been up to four Election Inspectors on election day; 2 Republicans and 2 Democrats, and every one of them should have verified and signed the poll book that evening when closing the election. Election Inspectors are trainied and certified ahead of an election through the County Clerk, and are made aware of how critical this step is to the security of our elections. Any false documentation, or none at all in this case, is a prosecutable offense.
Checks & Balances in our Election Process
Mr. Lahring never really expected the results of the elction to change with the outcome of the re-count. He was simply more curious to learn of how many ballots were counted wrong, if any, especially considering these cities and township lean Democratic and typically tend to draw suspicion for one reason or another after elections. And no matter the reason, if any, this is a means of checks and balances for the integrity of our election system, while giving opportunity to expose and remedy any forms of misconduct or fraud and take corrective and/or legal action when necessary. Without this recount, these issues would have never been exposed, especially the more serious situation in Roosevelt Park.
How Does One Initiate an Election Re-Count?
For a candidate to initiate a re-count of their election, they have 48 hours after the County Board of Canvassers certify the election to do so. Fee's are also assessed to the person requesting the re-count, ranging from $25.00 to $250.00 per precinct. Mr. Lahring was charged $6,500.00 in filing and re-count fees. Once the filing has been made and fee's paid, the County Clerk, or the Election Coordinator then set the date, time & location.
*(Anyone can file for an election re-count, it does not have to be a candidate).
History of Fraud & Suspicion in Muskegon County Elections
After the 2020 election, here in Muskegon County, our GOP Elections Committee learned that thousands of "new" voters were added to our voter files several months prior to the 2020 election, then removed a couple of months after the election. It was also discovered that many voter registrations had addresses to abandoned buildings & homes, business's, and parking lots, along with a few dead residents who also voted in the 2020 election. (Click here to read the full 2020 report). Later, the news broke out regarding some 12,000 absentee ballot applications that were delivered to the clerk at the City of Muskegon. Although she did report to the local police and an investigation was opened, the FBI quickly took over and ghosted us with any further information. This made national headlines, and we have yet to hear from the FBI regarding any information on this case.
Another incident similar to the 2024 county-wide election, occurred during the 2022 election. We all went to bed fully confident that our Republican candidates for the Muskegon County Commissioner seats had won, giving us a Republican majority on the board, only to wake up the next morning to a shocking surprise loss after more absentee ballots were reported around 3:00am. Read the full story by clicking here.
What About Election Integrity Throughout the State?
Since the 2020 election, many groups and organizations have stepped up to investigate and expose the corruption enthralling our elections here in Michigan. This includes work towards cleaning up our voter rolls by removing people who are now deceased or have moved out of the state, acquiring Poll Workers to balance out the number of election inspectors and poll challengers between Democrats and Republicans and FOIA requesting election data. Athough we have made great improvements, we still have big problems with our elections in Michigan, specifically with our Secretary of State, Joslyn Benson. She has been notorious at last minute election law modifications and hiding or manipulating data, like the addition and removal of registered voters to Muskegon County in 2020 as decribed above. After receiving strong resistance from the SOS, State Board of Canvasers (BOE) and County Clerks, Michigan Fair Elections (MFE), an election integrity organization, recently concluded a 45 day investigation into the 2024 election and have discovered the following:
The results of this probe have revealed several major areas of concern with the State of Michigan’s election auditing, verification, and reporting, including that:
Vote count records were out-of-balance (more votes cast than recorded voters in the official statewide Voter Turnout Data Report as contrasted with the certified Statement of Votes Cast,) in 11 counties across the State of Michigan
Vote history records have been added, deleted, and altered post-certification.
Vote history designations have been switched from in-person to absentee and vice versa, which can potentially have the effect of altering overseas (UOCAVA) ballot designations.
Vote histories have been transferred from the voter ID that originated them to completely separate voter IDs of registrants who did not cast the recorded ballots.
Vote histories are sometimes moved to locations other than those from which they originated.
Vote histories have been duplicated at the state level, in contradiction to local records.
Vote histories have been scrubbed from voters who have an active status, and continue to participate in the electoral process.
Read the full report from MFE by clicking here.
Will Roosevelt Park Election Inspectors be Prosecuted?
"A free election is one where those in power have enough doubt about the outcome to make it worth rigging.” – Eugene McCarthy. There has never been a time before now for this statement to bear true. We must never cease from safeguarding the integrity of our elections. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Since the recent findings from the Water Resource Commissioner re-count, a report made with the local police department regarding Roosevelt Parks election violations. It will soon be handed off to our County Prosecutor, D.J. Hilson, and he will determine if this is worthy to prosecute and move forward in a court of law. We hope and pray D.J. Hilson will realize the importance and urgency of moving forward with this case, and how critical of a role this will play in bringing integrity back to our election process in Michigan.
I leave you with a couple of quotes to ponder regarding how important it is that we maintain free and fair elections ~
“The right to vote is the right upon which all other rights depend.” – Thomas Paine
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
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