ELECTION AUDIT FEVER
The Arizona “forensic audit” fiasco involving the presidential election “Big Lie” effort is having a ripple effect nation-wide, including in Michigan’s Cheboygan County. Despite Donald Trump taking 64.2 percent of the vote on election night in Cheboygan County, there is an undercurrent among some GOP county commissioners, spurred on by Detroit lawyer Stephanie Lambert, to conduct an “audit” of election results in the Northern Michigan county. The push for the audit request has been flamed by allegations of security issues with Dominion voting machines in Michigan’s Antrim County where on election night, thanks to human error, Joe Biden was shown in early voting to be 3,000 votes ahead of Trump, which was later reversed when the glitch was caught by election officials. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent all county election officials in the state a letter pointing out that local officials had no authority to order up an election audit. Officials with the Dominion voting machine company also sent a letter to Antrim and Cheboygan officials outlining that letting someone outside the government have access to the voting machines would likely be a violation of licensing agreements and could impact the ability of using said machines in future elections, an issue now facing Arizona officials who fear they will have to replace all voting machines. At press time, Cheboygan County Commissioners were still debating whether to conduct an audit. Detroit attorney Lambert has reportedly offered to pay the cost of sending in a “forensic team” to review ballots and election scanners.