Michigan judge says GOP election challengers skipped training session, didn't fully understand process
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
A Michigan judge has shot down an attempt to delay the certification of 2020 election results in Detroit, Michigan, after determining that challengers lacked a "full understanding" of the process and their claims weren't credible.
Judge Timothy Kenny on Friday rejected two poll challengers' bid to stop vote certification in Detroit, where President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Trump, saying it "would be an unprecedented exercise of judicial activism for this court" to do so, CNN reports. The judge found the allegations of misconduct brought by the Republican poll watchers and an election official to be "not credible," The Washington Post reports.
Additionally, Kenny said that while the plaintiffs relied "on numerous affidavits from election challengers who paint a picture of sinister fraudulent activities occurring" at the TCF Center in Detroit, the challengers didn't attend a training session on Oct. 29, and as a result, they "did not have a full understanding of the TCF absent ballot tabulation process," per Bloomberg. The judge added that the "plaintiffs' interpretation of events is incorrect and not credible."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lawyers had previously argued that the witnesses, "armed with little knowledge of the vote-counting process, had been alarmed by normal procedures they did not understand," the Post reports.
"Perhaps if Plaintiffs' election challenger affiants had attended the Oct. 29, 2020 walk-through of the TCF Center ballot counting location, questions and concerns could have been answered in advance of Election Day," the judge said on Friday. "Regrettably, they did not." Brendan Morrow
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Democrats push for ICE accountabilityFeature U.S. citizens shot and violently detained by immigration agents testify at Capitol Hill hearing
-
The price of sporting gloryFeature The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off this week. Will Italy regret playing host?
-
Fulton County: A dress rehearsal for election theft?Feature Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is Trump's de facto ‘voter fraud’ czar
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
EU and India clinch trade pact amid US tariff warSpeed Read The agreement will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
