LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan state lawmaker introduced a bill Tuesday that would require a “forensic” audit of the 2020 election, a move pro-Trump conservatives nationwide have been calling for in several key election states.
“A lot of people might say that people want to overturn the election or undo the election, I haven't heard a single person say that. People from my community are saying they want to verify the election results, and whoever won, won.” State Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) said in an interview with FOX 17.
Despite many Trump supporters continuing to cling on to the belief that the election was in some way rigged against the former president, state election officials have conducted dozens of audits, maintaining Michigan’s election was accurate and secure.
But Carra doesn’t think those audits went far enough.
“The audits that were done, 250 audits or so the Secretary of State already conducted, they're not even really audits, they're mini recounts of precincts just looking at one of the candidates and we need to do a more thorough investigation” Carra said.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) has previously said a forensic audit is "not a thing," and called a similar effort approved by Arizona state lawmakers, "a taxpayer-funded disinformation party with serious implications for the future health of our democracy."
Carra's billwould create a bipartisan panel in Michigan tasked with hiring a nonpartisan company to conduct the audit and look into poll books, certified voter rolls and electronic voting systems.
"I think people have a concern with whether or not their vote counts. And I think by doing the audit, i think we make it more clear that we did our part to try to make sure the election was fair, honest and transparent as possible." Carra said.
The bill was moved to committee Tuesday afternoon but there’s relatively no shot it would ever be signed into law and it’s even unclear if it will garner support from Carra’s Republican colleagues in the Legislature.
“That's up to my colleagues to decide. I think we should send it to the governor whether we think she's going to veto it or not, and if she vetoes it, well, then she vetoes it. But we should do our part, to verify that the election was fair, honest and transparent” Carra said.
Carra, who’s serving his first term in Michigan’s Legislature, recently announced his intent to run for a seat in Congress. He plans on primarying longtime incumbent Congressman Fred Upton (R- St. Joseph), who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol attack.
