Republicans\u00a0who backed President Donald Trump\u2019s failed effort for another term insisted they just wanted \u201canswers\u201d \u2014\u00a0even though they signed a brief seeking to overturn Michigan\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Fifteen Michigan legislators and four of six of the state\u2019s congressional Republicans\u00a0filed legal briefs\u00a0supporting a Texas lawsuit that sought to delay Monday\u2019s Electoral College vote and block electors from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia from participating.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the request Friday, after Bridge Michigan reached out to the lawmakers to understand their rationale for supporting a lawsuit that critics said supported \u201cauthoritarian, anti-democracy efforts\u201d to satisfy Trump\u2019s \u201ctiny fragile ego.\u201d<\/p>\n
By and large, Republicans who signed onto the lawsuit either didn\u2019t return calls or said they sought to protect the integrity of the election, even though no court found any evidence of fraud in the election Democratic presidential Joe Biden won in Michigan by 154,000 votes.<\/p>\n
Republicans like state Rep. Gary Eisen said they signed the brief to give legislative committees more time to investigate the Michigan election.<\/p>\n
Speaking hours before the decision, Eisen said that if the lawmakers\u2019 probe revealed \u201dthat this is just one big mess,\u201d then voters should \u201ctrust\u201d the GOP-led Legislature to pick their own electors, said Eisen, of St. Clair Township.<\/p>\n
He told Bridge Michigan he doesn\u2019t have a responsibility to honor the popular vote, saying \u201cif it\u2019s wrong\u201d it would be \u201clike me agreeing with a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s just too many unanswered things going on,\u201d he said. \u201cThat causes confusion. To put this whole thing to rest we just have to pursue every avenue we can to get the right answers. If it comes out one way, I’ll accept it. If it comes out the other way, I’ll still accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n
State Rep. Michelle Hoitenga, R-Manton, offered a similar explanation to Bridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not out to overturn the election,\u201d state Rep. Michelle Hoitenga, R-Manton, said after signing a legal brief that would allow the Legislature to do just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to pause for a moment and have time to make sure that everybody’s concerns are addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suit claimed\u00a0election officials in Michigan and other states \u201cgutted the safeguards for absentee ballots through non-legislative actions\u201d during the COVID-19 pandemic. And it repeats\u00a0dubious allegations\u00a0GOP poll challengers were denied legal access to Detroit\u2019s absentee counting board.<\/p>\n
Many of those claims have been\u00a0rejected by Michigan courts, which have deemed Republican witnesses \u201cnot credible\u201d and found Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson\u00a0acted lawfully\u00a0when she mailed out absentee ballot applications to voters across the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur election has been certified,” Michigan Attorney General Nessel, a Democrat,\u00a0 said Thursday on CNN. “It\u2019s been upheld by every court in which it\u2019s been challenged. And in fact, Texas has failed to identify a single voter who voted in Michigan who should not have, let alone any evidence of widespread voter fraud.”<\/p>\n
The brief signed by GOP state legislators repeats false claims about the TCF Center in Detroit, where absentee ballots were counted. The brief wrongly alleges the city “backdated” late-arriving ballots, which election officials say was a procedural step to remedy\u00a0minor clerical errors\u00a0made at satellite offices before Election Day.<\/p>\n
Texas also makes a wild claim that all 174,000 absentee ballots counted in Detroit were not “tied to a registered voter” so should not count. In reality, Detroit counted about\u00a0150 fewer absentee ballots\u00a0than listed voters, an undercount, not an overcount that would suggest illegal votes.<\/p>\n
Notably, Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey of Clarklake did not join the legal challenge.<\/p>\n
Nor did state Rep. Matt Hall of Marshall and Sen. Ed McBroom of Vulcan, Republicans who are leading the ongoing legislative inquiry into the election, which Hall said could take \u201cmonths\u201d to complete and aims to inform policy discussions.<\/p>\n
Chatfield\u2019s \u201cposition has not changed,\u201d said spokesperson Gideon D\u2019Assandro. \u201cThe Michigan Legislature will follow the law, and Michigan\u2019s electors will go to the candidate who received the most votes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridge Michigan on Friday reached out to all 19 Michigan Republicans in Congress and the state Legislature who signed onto legal briefs to ask why they disagree. Only a handful answered or returned calls, some issued statements and others did not respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republicans\u00a0who backed President Donald Trump\u2019s failed effort for another term insisted they just wanted \u201canswers\u201d \u2014\u00a0even though they…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n