Dramatic music plays over two videos posted earlier this month, as surveillance footage shows people in Detroit placing stacks of absentee ballot envelopes inside drop boxes before the 2020 election.
The stacks range from a few ballots to dozens, says the organizations behind these videos, alleging the footage is proof of a wide election fraud scheme. But is that true? No, say the state’s top election official and guidance for local clerks.
Michigan Citizens for Election Integrity says its people reviewed thousands of hours of surveillance video, obtained by conservative website The Gateway Pundit, from 19 Detroit drop boxes for the November 2020 election.
Multiple clips, they allege, show people depositing suspicious stacks of ballot envelopes, reaching as high as 50.
The citizens group correctly points out state law says when a relative returns a voter’s ballot, the relative should “mail or deliver a ballot to the clerk,” but Michigan’s instructions for election officials can explain a possible gray area noted by the videos:
“Election clerks are encouraged to utilized (sic) absent voter ballot drop boxes to allow voters or anyone authorized to be in possession of a voter’s completed absent voter ballot envelope to deliver absent voter ballots,” reads the Michigan Election Officials’ Manual, page 10. (Bolding added.)
The citizens group’s accusations are not innocent queries, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told MLive this week, but instead part of a “nationally coordinated effort” to disrupt democracy and cause people to disengage with voting.
“Parts of it are really designed to create just simply chaos and confusion around the process in which we choose our leaders and hold them accountable,” said Benson, a Democrat who has administered Michigan’s elections since 2019.
Republican secretary of state nominee Kristina Karamo tweeted the videos prove “an illegal ballot mule operation.” She did not respond to MLive’s request to elaborate on her allegations.
Karamo’s theory was similarly floated in “2000 Mules,” a recent film that unsuccessfully tries to use cellphone signals to prove a web of drop box fraud.
Read more: ‘2000 Mules’ fact check: Michigan experts debunk election fraud claims
Claims of widespread voter fraud in Michigan remain unproven since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election by more than 154,000 votes. A Republican-led state Senate report last year found “no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud.”
And while that report noted drop boxes “present a greater vulnerability to ballot harvesting,” the report committee found “no evidence” of it in 2020.
State and local election officials conducted more than 250 audits of the results and upheld their accuracy. Benson said those audits included checking the accuracy of machines’ tabulation of paper ballots, as well as procedure checks for ballot chain of custody and signature acclamation.
Citizens for Election Integrity President Joe Brandis was not available for an interview, but he noted to MLive his group’s opposition to Proposal 2. That constitutional amendment on ballots this year, the group argues, would weaken Michigan’s voter identification requirement, allow nonprofit donations to unfairly influence elections, and more.
Related: The 3 proposals on your ballot, explained
Benson’s office released a fact check offering “legal explanations” to some of the drop box activity that the group claimed was suspicious. Postal workers putting ballots in a drop box, for example, “is a normal and legal activity” because they are required to expedite delivery of election mail whether via the U.S. Postal Service or drop box.
Some of the Citizens for Election Integrity clips allege Detroiters depositing ballots in drop boxes and taking photos of the action is proof they were being paid. But people could be taking photos for their own records or be snapping a celebratory “ballot selfie” to show they voted.
Benson said there are also security measures to stop absentee ballot fraud after one has been dropped off, like the voter’s signature on the return envelope being cross-referenced with their signature on file.
“We have seen now, both across the country and here in Michigan, the drop box system works,” Benson said.
Benson also said her office is “on guard” for possible abuse of drop boxes. Problems with ballot chain of custody, secure vote counting and signature fraud are examples she gave of attempts that would warrant investigation if real evidence is brought.
The GOP-led Michigan Senate report last year did, however, have some recommendations to improve drop box security. Senators recommended boxes close earlier than 8 p.m. on Election Day or just not be used at all, to get absentee counting done earlier.
“Additionally, the process of transferring ballots from the clerk’s office to other locations must be done with greater security and manifests,” the report reads, “so that there can be an accounting for each ballot sent and received between the two locations, establishing a chain of custody.”
Benson told MLive she is willing to work with legislators to add protocols. But as for the report’s specific recommendations, she said, “There are already sufficient protocols in place, from tracking the chain of custody to ensuring that only valid ballots correctly placed in drop boxes are actually tabulated.”
“We’ve got the secure protocols in place,” Benson said. “It’s more countering and having the support and assistance in responding to misinformation.”
As part of a deal to allow clerks to start processing absentee ballots two days before elections, the legislature Wednesday tightened ballot collection rules for drop boxes. That includes clerk office employees collecting ballots daily starting 15 days before Election Day.
Absentee ballots started going out Thursday to Michigan voters who requested one. Military and overseas voters got a head start last weekend.
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