On Tuesday evening, two Republicans on Michigan’s Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially refused to certify the county’s election results which show Democratic nominee Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump.
The two Republican board members, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, initially stated that their refusal to certify Wayne County’s results was due to minor discrepancies in absentee poll book matches, according to The Detroit News. Similar minor discrepancies have never stopped the local board from certifying elections in the past.
The board first deadlocked at 2-2 with the Republicans voting against certifying the results and Democrats voting to certify. It would have been an unprecedented move by a local board to refuse to certify an election result as part of a scheme to overturn the outcome.
Following the news, the president was absolutely ecstatic on Twitter.
“Wow! Michigan just refused to certify the election results!” Trump exclaimed. “Having courage is a beautiful thing. The USA stands proud!”
Still refusing to accept the results of an election he lost two weeks ago, President Donald Trump has rested his negligible hopes for a second term on a series of long-shot legal challenges based on his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, recounts, and the faint possibility that Republicans in several states that he lost by significant margins will somehow refuse to acknowledge the will of the people.
At the same time, the president was still boasting on Twitter, delighted over the prospect of disenfranchising thousands of Black voters.
“Flip Michigan back to TRUMP,” he tweeted at the exact moment Wayne County voted to certify the results. “Detroit, not surprisingly, has tremendous problems!”
Six minutes later, Trump’s fantasy of a Hail Mary election reversal in Michigan fell apart in spectacular fashion.
The 2 Republican bard members suddenly reversed their decision after a barrage of phone calls from the public lambasting them for trying to exclude predominantly Black Detroit from the certification.
While this episode ultimately ended with the votes upheld, it demonstrates a Republican Party, from the president on down to local officials, willing to discard the election results and steal the 2020 election, specifically by invalidating votes cast by Black Americans.
The initial action by the GOP board of canvassers members was part of a scheme, promoted by Trump’s campaign, involving local and state-level Republicans on local canvassing and elections boards refusing to certify election results in jurisdictions where Biden won. In doing so, they believe, they could throw the certification decision to Republican-controlled state legislatures that could then choose Trump as the winner, even though he lost the popular vote to Biden by almost 3%. Republican legislative leaders have, however, said that they will play no role in the theft of the election.
