Late yesterday, the American Freedom Law Center, along with associated counsel acting as special counsel for the Thomas More Society based in Chicago, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, challenging the conduct of the 2020 general election in Michigan on behalf of two Michigan voters. The lawsuit sets forth numerous allegations of election malfeasance at the TCF Center in Detroit and throughout Wayne County, the most populous county in the State, and it demonstrates that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s “vote by mail” scheme violated the U.S. Constitution by directly violating the absentee ballot law passed by the legislature, thereby precipitating fraud at the TCF Center and throughout the State. As alleged in the lawsuit: “In Michigan, the Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, a registered Democrat, acting unilaterally and without legislative approval, flooded the electoral process for the 2020 general election with absentee ballots. This was accomplished by the Secretary of State’s unilateral decision to send absentee ballot request forms to every household in Michigan with a registered voter (regardless of whether the voter was still alive or actually resided at that address) and to non-registered voters who were temporarily living in the State. Furthermore, the Secretary of State permitted online requests for absentee ballots without signature verification, thereby allowing for fraud in the process of obtaining an absentee ballot. These actions were not approved or authorized by the State legislature, and for good reason. Predictably, this flood of unauthorized, absentee ballots ensured the dilution of lawful votes and precipitated an unfair and dishonest 2020 general election, as the evidence adduced from the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan proves.”
The lawsuit names as defendants Jocelyn Benson in her official capacity as Secretary of State and Jeannette Bradshaw in her official capacity as Chair of the Board of State Canvassers for Michigan. AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel Robert Muise commented: “Fair and honest elections are the lifeblood of our constitutional republic. American citizens, including those of us who reside in Michigan, demand and deserve honest, fair, and transparent elections. We demand and deserve a process that ensures that our legal votes will count and that illegal votes will not. The Constitution requires it, and for good reason, as our lawsuit demonstrates. Indeed, the evidence shows that the election in Michigan was not honest, fair, and transparent. Consequently, we are asking a federal court to do something about it. At the end of the day, this case seeks to restore the purity and integrity of elections in Michigan so that ‘We the people’ can have confidence in their outcome and thus confidence that those who govern are doing so legitimately.”
The lawsuit alleges violation of the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, both of which protect a private citizen’s legal vote from being debased or diluted by arbitrary and disparate treatment, such as permitting illegal votes that discount proper votes. As stated by the U.S. Supreme Court, “Every voter in a federal . . . election, whether he votes for a candidate with little chance of winning or for one with little chance of losing, has a right under the Constitution to have his vote fairly counted, without its being distorted by fraudulently cast votes.” The lawsuit also challenges the Secretary of State’s “vote by mail” scheme as a violation of Article II, section 1, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which grants the State legislature the sole authority for the election process. There are a few exceptional cases in which the U.S. Constitution imposes a duty or confers a power on a particular branch of a State’s government. Article II, section 1, clause 2 is one of them. It provides that “[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,” electors for President and Vice President. As the U.S. Supreme Court explained, this provision of the Constitution “convey[s] the broadest power of determination” and “leaves it to the legislature exclusively to define the method” of appointment. A significant departure from the legislative scheme for appointing Presidential electors, such as the Secretary of State’s “vote by mail” absentee ballot scheme, runs afoul of this constitutional mandate. The lawsuit is asking the Court to enjoin the Secretary of State and the Board of State Canvassers from finally certifying the election results and declaring winners of the 2020 general election until an independent audit to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the election is performed. To perform the audit, the plaintiffs are requesting the appointment of a special master to investigate all claims of fraud in Wayne County, specifically including claims of fraud at the TCF Center, and to verify and certify the legality of all absentee ballots ordered through the Secretary of State’s absentee ballot scheme. |