In a new lawsuit, the Republican National Committee accuses Detroit’s Election Commission of inadequate, unequal and illegal hiring practices for poll workers, and as a result had seven times more Democrats working the polls than Republicans, and almost two thirds of all precincts without a single Republican inspector.
Fox News reports:
Michigan requires that the board of election commissioners “shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party,” according to Section 168.74 of the state’s election law.
However, the city of Detroit hired about 2,300 Democratic poll workers and only about 300 Republican election inspectors for the state’s 2024 primary election, according to the Detroit Election Commission Report cited in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by the RNC, Michigan GOP, and chairs of Wayne County Republican committees late Thursday, charged that the City of Detroit’s Election Commission violated state law and, moreover, has a legal duty to appoint an equal number of GOP and Democratic poll workers before the November election.
Section 674(2) of the Election Law also requires the commission to “appoint at least 1 election inspector from each major political party,” but according to the lawsuit obtained by Fox News Digital, 200 of the 335 precincts did not have a single Republican election inspector.
In a joint statement, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump said, “Detroit’s failure to hire Republican poll workers is the kind of bad-faith Democrat interference that drives down faith in elections. The RNC is bringing suit to remedy this completely unacceptable breach of public trust and our unprecedented election integrity campaign will continue to fight in Michigan and nationwide to protect the rights of every voter to have fair, accurate, secure and transparent elections.
In 2022, the RNC brought similar issues to light in Kalamazoo and Flint, which respectively retained 132 Democratic election inspectors vs 60 Republican inspectors, and 442 Democratic inspectors to a dismal 27 Republican inspectors. The Michigan RNC said they provided the city of Flint with 122 recommended Republican inspectors, and Kalamazoo with over 300 Republican recommendations.
Over a week after the previous presidential election, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers briefly refused to certify election results and were deadlocked along party lines, but abruptly and without explanation reversed course.
While Michigan always plays a critical role in elections as a swing state, it’s been especially significant in the 2024 presidential race, with Kamala Harris, Joe Biden (when he was still in the race), and Donald Trump all making frequent appearances in the state, and Trump aggressively courting black voters in Detroit.
