AG charges 3 clerks, 4 residents in double voting case

ST. CLAIR SHORES — The office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has authorized felony charges against seven people after an investigation into alleged acts of double voting during the August 2024 primary election.

Four St. Clair Shores residents will reportedly face charges for voting twice. Nessel’s office also authorized felony charges against three St. Clair Shores assistant city clerks “for allegedly illegally altering the State Qualified Voter File to designate the previously issued, voted, and returned absentee ballots of the four individuals as rejected, rather than received.”

According to an Oct. 4 press release from the attorney general’s office, the office found probable cause to authorize charges after a review of police reports from St. Clair Shores, voting records and reports from the Michigan Department of State Enforcement Division. Michigan Department of Attorney General investigators also reportedly interviewed the election inspectors, the assistant city clerks now facing charges, the St. Clair Shores city clerk and Michigan’s director of elections. They also analyzed the Qualified Voter File.

Those facing charges had not been arraigned at press time Oct. 4.

According to the release for Nessel’s office, the four voters will face charges of voting absentee and in-person, which is a five-year felony, and one count of offering to vote more than once, a four-year felony.

Two of the assistant city clerks face three felony charges: one count of falsifying election returns or records, a five-year felony; one count of voting absentee and in-person; and one count of offering to vote more than once. One assistant city clerk faces two counts of falsifying returns or election records and two counts each of voting absentee and in-person and offering to vote more than once.

“Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare. There are procedures in place to ensure this does not happen and that is why it so rarely does. It took a confluence of events and decisions to allow these four people to double vote,” Nessel said in the release. “Nevertheless, the fact that four incidents occurred in a municipality of this size raised significant concerns and is simply unheard of.”

The release alleged that the four residents requested ballots at their local polling place on the day of the election and that they were informed that they had already voted by election workers. Despite warnings in the electronic poll book, the election workers were allegedly told by the three clerks to override the system and to proceed to cast in-person ballots.

“The voters cast these ballots, which were then counted alongside their absentee ballots, resulting in double votes,” the press release stated.

According to a press release from the City of St. Clair Shores, they were surprised to learn of the charges Nessel will be pursuing “in spite of local and county conclusions.” The release stated that after the city clerk found the double votes, she immediately notified state and county election officials.

“In the following days, the potential of fraud was thoroughly investigated by (the) St. Clair Shores Police Department,” the release stated. “Detectives interviewed each voter as well as the circumstances that allowed the mistake to occur within the State’s election system. The local investigation found that there was no criminal intent to break any of the laws that protect our elections.”

The city’s release went on to say that the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the matter and found similar results, closing the case.

St. Clair Shores Mayor Kip Walby commented on what Nessel was doing and called the clerks “three seasoned election workers.” He also commented on the charges against the four voters.

“Basically charging them a felony for voter fraud and there’s no way this is voter fraud,” Walby said. “This is nothing but political theater here. These people did not commit voter fraud.”

The St. Clair Shores press release further stated, “It is our hope that an accurate accounting of the facts of this case are properly presented in court as we feel they will correct the public misstatements and discrepancies in AG Nessel’s press conference.”