LANSING, Mich. — There is “no evidence of widespread or systemic fraud” in Michigan’s 2020 election, according to a long-awaited report from Michigan Senate Republicans.
The 35-page report released Wednesday morning by the Senate Oversight Committee, affirms what election officials have been saying in the months following the election despite claims made by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that the election in Michigan and other states were “stolen.”
“Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan,” the report concludes.
The Republican-led committee began its investigation into voter fraud in the days following the November 3 election. Senate Oversight Chair Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) called it thorough and revealing. “We found both real vulnerabilities and resiliency within the state’s elections system. We also discovered the extent to which our elections officials go to facilitate them,” McBroom said in a statement.
The committee investigated all aspects of the election in which doubt was cast, including whether dead people voted, the false allegations that ballots were “dumped” overnight in Detroit, and the quickly-corrected result reporting issue in Antrim County.
The report also recommends Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel looks into investigating those who have made false claims about election fraud “to raise money or publicity for their own ends.”
“After innumerable hours over many months, watching, listening, and reading both in-person testimony and various other accounts, I am confident in asserting that the results of the November 2020 General Election in Michigan were accurately represented by the certified and audited results,” McBroom said.
The report was released just one day after Michigan State Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) introduced a bill requiring a “forensic” audit of the 2020 election, which pro-Trump conservatives have been calling for in key election states. The committee rebuked the idea, saying it’s not justifiable.
“Most of the rigorous debate over additional audits comes from fears surrounding the technology used and its vulnerabilities as allegedly demonstrated in Antrim County. Without any evidence to validate those fears, another audit, a so-called forensic audit, is not justifiable. Michigan’s already completed post-election audit and risk-limiting audit are also far more substantive than Arizona’s standard audit,” McBroom explained.
While they found no evidence of widespread fraud, Senate Republicans say there are vulnerabilities in the election process and their 39-bill election reform work to address some of those issues. Democrats and voter rights groups have called the proposals restrictive and an attempt at voter suppression.
