Many affidavits, little evidence
Most Republicans who testified said they’d be submitting written testimony or affidavits to the state Senate Oversight Committee, but most affidavits that were part of lawsuits have already been tossed out of Michigan courts.
Phillip O’Halloran, who testified early in the day, filed an affidavit and was a plaintiff in one of the Trump campaign’s failed lawsuits in the state. O’Halloran’s affidavit, along with the lawsuit, was voluntarily withdraw by the Trump campaign in late November.
Yet, O’Halloran and others like him had a renewed platform for their grievances Tuesday. Republican lawmakers offered little pushback at times calling the testimony “insightful” and “compelling.”
President Donald Trump tweeted several videos from the hearing, at one-point tweeting “Michigan voter fraud hearing going on now!”
"They need to be brought to our attention as policy makers, [we are] not a court of law. This is not a judge sitting here...We are elected officials, but we don not wear robes and we do not make decisions on what is going on here."State Sen. Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Township) and Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) occasionally corrected testimony or pressed for specifics.
At one-point Sen. Lucido asked O’Halloran, “What lawyer was that? I’m sorry Mr. Chairman for digging deep but these are individuals who are testifying under an affidavit that I need to know the name of the lawyer.” O’Halloran was not able to provide a name.
Lucido also asked several people if they’d submitted any evidence to the attorney general, “They need to be brought to our attention as policy makers, [we’re] not a court of law. This is not a judge sitting here… We’re elected officials, but we don’t wear robes and we don’t make decisions on what is going on here.”
He added, “But, we will listen to it for policy purposes to ensure the sanctity and security of the voting system.”
When Melissa Carone, a Republican who said she was working as an IT contractor for Dominion Voting Systems testified that she saw fraud, Sen. Michael MacDonald (R-Macomb Township) mused “Did you contact anybody from the Trump campaign? Wouldn’t they have a pipeline to the Department of Justice?”
During the hearing, U.S. Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press the Department of Justice had not uncovered widespread voting fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Sen. MacDonald called Carone’s testimony “excellent” despite the fact that her claims have been debunked by Michigan’s longtime former director of elections, Chris Thomas, who said on Twitter during the hearing, “If batches of 50 ballots run through 8-10 times as Melissa Carone stated on affidavit and on media, the poll books would be grossly out of balance. That is not the case.”
Judge Timothy Kenny also said “Ms. Carone’s description of the events at the TCF Center does not square with any of the other affidavits. There are no other reports of lost data, or tabulating machines that jammed repeatedly every hour during the count. Neither Republican nor Democratic challengers nor city officials substantiate her version of events. The allegations simply are not credible,” when denying a petition for injunctive relief and an independent audit in an earlier lawsuit.
Sharp elbows and hurt feelings
Bill Schmidt was one of the few who testified who said he saw no evidence of fraud in his time at the TCF Center. He described himself as a lifelong Republican until this election. He said he served as a challenger at the TCF Center.
“I saw a lot of poll workers work really hard. And I think there were some hard feelings on part of many of the challengers. There was a lot of sharp elbows and people got their feelings hurt. And I think that’s what we’re seeing here today: hurt feelings,” said Schmidt.
"If you are predisposed to see fraud, you will see fraud in just simple mistakes."Schmidt attributed the fervor to social media callouts beckoning untrained poll challengers and watchers to the TCF Center, “At every single rally the president had he said, ‘This election is going to be filled with fraud,’ Tweets galore, same thing.”
He added, “If you’re predisposed to see fraud, you will see fraud in just simple mistakes.”
The burden of proof
Despite no clear evidence, the crowd’s spirit wasn’t dampened — at times they chanted “Do your job” and “Four more years” outside of the hearing room so loudly it could be heard via the livestream and Chairman Sen. Ed McBroom threatened to adjourn the hearing, pleading with anyone who had “credibility with the crowd” to get them to stop chanting.
Calls for the state legislature to appoint electors, void the election in Wayne County, or hold another election persisted.
Conservative Radio host “Trucker” Randy Bishop threatened, “We won’t accept Biden and Harris as our president and vice president until we’re given proof that nothing was illegally done in this election,” requesting a “forensic accounting,” in several key counties, before adding, “and if you prove to us Mr. Biden, with all due respect, we’ll accept you as our president.”
It’s not clear what form of evidence or legal ruling would be satisfactory to prove that there wasn’t large-scale fraud in Michigan’s election.
