Michigan Special Prosecutor To Consider Charges for Voting Machine Tampering
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Aug. 5, Michigan Chief Deputy Attorney General Christina Grossi (D) sent a letter to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) notifying her that the Michigan attorney general’s office asked for a special prosecutor to consider charging nine individuals who allegedly illegally accessed voting equipment. The letter states that, following the 2020 election, an investigation uncovered that “a group of individuals gained unauthorized access and compromised tabulators from” four county clerks’ offices. Attorney general candidate Matthew DePerno (R), Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, state Rep. Daire Rendon (R) and six others are named in the petition for allegedly persuading clerks to give them access to voting machines, tampering with the machines and “testing” them. The petition specifically highlights the fact that DePerno is now the presumptive Republican nominee for attorney general and “facts were developed that DePerno was one of the prime instigators of the conspiracy.”
The letter and petition provide a summary of events between March 11, 2021 and June 2021. The petition details how the named parties allegedly gained access to the voting machines: “In Roscommon County the clerk stated she was told by Rep Rendon that the House of Representatives was conducting an investigation in election fraud.” Additionally, the named parties “coordinated printing of fake ballots to be run through the tabulators and recruitment of ‘volunteers.’” The letter states that in another lawsuit, Bailey v. Antrim County, DePerno used identification numbers for voting machines in a subpoena, even though “the only way to get the Verizon modem ID number from the tabulators is to break open the security seals and physically remove the outer panels to look inside of the tabulators and read the ID numbers on the modems” — meaning that the machines had to be broken into to access this information. These events highlight one of many attempts by election deniers to instill doubt about voting machines following the 2020 election. The allegations presented by the attorney general’s office will now be reviewed and a special prosecutor can decide whether to proceed with criminal charges.