EXCHANGE RATE

With Trump’s “Big Lie” continuing to prevail among some GOP factions – that he really won the 2020 presidential election, but election officials stole the election from him – a fabrication that recounts and federal lawsuits have disproven time and again, some Michigan Republicans have been making moves to ensure they’ll get their way next time around, by hook or by crook. First, in early October, metro Detroit Republican Party officials moved to replace Monica Palmer as a GOP member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. The board is in charge of certifying election results, and while Palmer initially opposed certifying the 2020 election, even receiving a phone call from former President Trump, she eventually did. While Palmer, whose term came to an end in late October, was not renominated for another four-year term, much to her consternation. Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said some Republicans are trying to populate canvassing boards with “obstructionists.” Wayne County is part of a trend across the state of GOP party officials working to replace incumbent county election officials, which are typically four-member boards, with two local Republicans and two local Democrats, ahead of the 2022 election. According to an investigation by The Detroit News, in eight of Michigan’s 11 largest counties, Republicans have nominated new officials. Count among them, Macomb County and the county of Antrim, the hotbead of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.