Guest Post by Becky Behrends, M.D. and VP of Research for Michigan Citizens for Election Integrity (MC4EI.com)

MI Dem SOS Jocelyn Benson

A recent Detroit Free Press article by Clara Hendrickson (this is not the first time Dr. Becky Behrends has destroyed the leftist-trained “journalist,” see links here and here for more) discussed the Republican lawsuit which is seeking to rescind the new election poll challenger guidelines from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The misinformation in this article needs to be addressed. So, let’s get the facts straight.

1. “Republican supporters of Donald Trump flooded the counting board (in 2020 at Detroit TCF center) demanding the count be stopped.”

It wasn’t just “allies of former President Trump” who demanded that the count be stopped. There were dozens of certified GOP and non-partisan poll challengers who also sought a pause, not an indefinite cessation of the count — which Democrats and media have incessantly and falsely intimated to the uninformed. It was “stop the count”, not “stop the vote”.

The challengers were appalled at the way the votes were being counted and the way that Michigan election law was being violated without recourse. These challengers, who are every bit as entitled under the law as poll workers to be present when the votes are counted, demanded that their right to observe the count be upheld. When it was not, they requested a halt to the count until their lawyers could obtain an emergency injunction.

2. “The organization [Michigan Citizens for Election Integrity- MC4EI] has falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen in Detroit”

Here the author refers to the 60-page MC4EI report, “TCF Timeline: the 2020 General Election in Detroit”. She then cites a legal boilerplate disclaimer on the MC4EI website to hint at the report’s falsehood. The author of the TCF Timeline report invites Ms. Hendrickson to refute any substantive claim in that report [O’Halloran, P. pers. comm] Curiously, despite her flatly stating that the report’s allegations of a rigged election in Detroit are false, she has, to date, presented no evidence of their falsehood. All Ms. Hendrickson can do is fall back on the “illusion of truth” effect, which essentially is “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as truth”. Media parrots keep repeating “the 2020 election was not rigged” so that it becomes truth in their minds and, they hope, in the minds of the public. No facts, no investigation.

3. “One of the plaintiffs involved in that lawsuit − Braden Giacobazzi − was kicked out of the counting room in Detroit in the August 2022 primary, where he served as an election challenger.”

Whether intentionally or through ignorance (laziness, maybe?) The Detroit Free Press conceals from the reader the fact that Challenger Giacobazzi was assaulted and physically removed during the lawful performance of his duties – potentially a felony.

MCL 168.734 of Michigan Election Law grants broad protection to the rights of all poll challengers:

[whoever] shall refuse or fail to provide such challenger with conveniences for the performance of the duties expected of him, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000.00, or by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding 2 years, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

Allegations by the chief security officer that Giacobazzi was removed for repeatedly calling poll workers “names” were preposterous and were roundly refuted by multiple witnesses.

Giacobazzi was, however, calling attention to the fact that more than one of the electronic poll books displayed icons proving that they were, at that time, connected to the internet. This concern – that elements of the election management system were left vulnerable to outside electronic access – has been aggressively contested by those who claim 2020 was “the most secure election in history.”

4. “Officials who placed cardboard over the windows said challengers videotaping and photographing the count intimidated election workers.”

Perhaps in deference to her colleagues, Ms. Hendrickson omits the fact that a large phalanx of her fellow journalists were standing inside of those windows, much closer to the election workers with an unobstructed view, training cameras on the election proceedings that were far more powerful than the mobile phones of the GOP challengers. But the election workers were only “intimidated” by statutorily authorized challengers who were unlawfully denied entry, while reporters enjoyed a ringside seat.

This is just another example of mainstream media malpractice and their failure to report honestly and accurately.

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