Donald J. Trump for President Inc. v. Benson (Federal Court)

No. 1:20-cv-01083 (W.D. Mich.) | Closed

The Michigan legislature enacted strict laws for election conduct. These laws were ignored in Wayne County (Detroit) so that Republican election challengers did not receive the same treatment as their Democratic counterparts.

On November 11, the Trump Campaign filed suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.  The complaint included over 100 credentialed election challengers who had testified to gross violations of the election law. These include lack of meaningful access to observe vote counting, counting of ineligible and illegal ballots – multiple times, unlawful ballot duplication, and pre-dating of absentee ballots that arrived after the deadline. There was even testimony stating that a packet of information entitled, “Tactics to Distract GOP Challengers” was observed being distributed among Democratic challengers.  The affidavits included in the attached 350-page complaint.

Wayne County is home to Detroit where a significant number of votes were cast in the 2020 Presidential Election. If this complaint were to move successfully through the court system, votes cast here should not be certified until the concerns are addressed. There was intentionally fraudulent conduct and without further examination, it is impossible to determine the impact this behavior had on the preliminary vote count.  At the time of this filing, the unofficial margin of Joe Biden’s Michigan “lead” was 150,000 or about 2.5%. The margin in Detroit was even higher than that, underscoring the significance of these allegations. According to the Associated Press, 28,000 people registered to vote on election day and 3.5 million of the 5.5 million votes came from absentee ballots.

On November 19, the Trump Campaign voluntarily dismissed the suit because Wayne County board of canvassers, Republicans Monica Palmer and William Hartman, declined to certify the results after having been pressured into agreeing to certify. Nonetheless, Michigan ultimately certified the results while Palmer and Hartman were subjected to violent threats while they continue to oppose the certification.