ANTRIM COUNTY, Mich. – Former Michigan Sen. Patrick Colbeck is calling for “Decision Day” in Antrim County, the small northern county where the categorically false claim of voting machines being rigged was developed.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections, Antrim County Clerk’s Office and a bipartisan team of clerks hand counted the county’s ballots in December.
READ: Michigan’s audit of Antrim County votes reaffirms 2020 presidential election results
A rally planned this weekend will feature some of the most prominent election deniers, including conspiracy theorist and MyPillow Inc. CEO Mike Lindell.
Those behind the rally want Michigan to allow a private and problematic audit similar to the one in Arizona from the group, Cyber Ninjas. Michigan’s former Elections Director Chris Thomas said that is dangerous.
“You may see some type of audit, where they go in and the election officials show them each ballot. But I don’t think we’ll see a situation where the ballots are given over to Cyber Ninjas or any other private group,” Thomas said. “People enter into these types of processes. With a preconceived conclusion, they see what they want to see. And in worst case scenarios, they wouldn’t be manipulated.”
Thomas said there are real issues -- such as voter access, streamlining processing and counting and lies about results -- that take away from the real success of the 2020 election, despite a global pandemic.
“It was a miracle that it came off as well as it did. And at the same time, it became a tragedy, and a tragedy that all that good were once undermined for partisan political advantage by creating the big lie,” he said.
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