An election software “glitch” in Michigan’s Antrim County incorrectly directed 6,000 votes to Democrats, Michigan GOP Chairwoman Laura Cox and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced during a press conference in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Friday. Although the problem was fixed, the chairwomen expressed concern that dozens of other counties could also have been affected by the same glitchy software.
Another 2,000 votes were inaccurately directed to Dems in Oakland County due to what election officials called a “clerical error,” according to McDaniel.
The initial count in the historically red Antrim County reportedly had Joe Biden leading by roughly 3,000 votes. The revised totals reportedly show that Trump won the county by around 2,500.
“In Antrim County,” Cox said, “ballots were counted for Democrats that were meant for Republicans, causing a 6,000 vote swing against our candidates,” she told reporters.
Cox said the error was found and corrected after the county hand-counted the vote.
“The county clerk [Sheryl Guy] came forward and said tabulating software glitched and caused a miscalculation of the votes. Since then, we have now discovered that 47 counties used this same software in the same capacity,” she continued. “And all these counties that use this software need to closely examine their results for similar discrepancies.”
“The people of Michigan deserve a transparent and open process. Voters deserve to know that all legal votes are being counted,” concluded Cox.
Michigan GOP Chair: Dozens of Michigan counties used the same software that caused 6,000 votes in one county to switch from Trump to Biden.
"These counties that used this software need to closely examine their result for similar discrepancies." pic.twitter.com/ZK3uUcogNB
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 6, 2020
During the press conference, McDaniel also expressed concern about the software glitch in Antrim County. “There was a major software issue in Antrim County that we have concerns could have caused problems in other counties as well,” she said.
In addition to the Antrim glitch that incorrectly directed thousands of votes to Democrats, the RNC chairwoman described how 2,000 votes went to Dems in another county due to “a clerical error.”
“Just last night, in Oakland County, we found 2,000 ballots that had been given to Democrats that were Republican ballots due to a clerical error, ” McDaniel said. She said the incident happened in Rochester Hills, MI.
McDaniel went on to describe potential counting irregularities in the Detroit metro area, including the back-dating of ballots, as reported by a USPS whistleblower to James O’Keefe of Project Veritas, and alleged that GOP poll watchers have been systematically denied access to the tabulation work in some precincts, including Wayne County.
“There are hundreds of reports of our poll watchers being intimidated, and unable to do their job,” she said. “We have received over 100 incident reports of irregularities.”
McDaniel gave as an example a troubling incident that was reported by an election worker who was assigned on Nov. 3 and 4 to work on problem ballots in the TCS Adjudication Center. She stressed that the whistleblower is not a Republican poll worker, but “an actual election worker.”
“A bundle of ballots with no received date were brought to the whistleblower. The ballots should not have been immediately counted because there was no evidence the ballots had been received by the state-mandated deadline of November 3rd,” McDaniel told reporters.
“On the morning of November 4th, whistleblower was instructed by their supervisor to take the ballots with no dates, enter them into the electronic record, and place either Nov. 2nd, or Nov. 3rd as the date received,” the RNC Chair continued.
“This is illegal,” McDaniel stressed. “This whistleblower was uncomfortable entering the dates on the ballots with no evidence they were received on those dates, and election workers became angry at the whistleblower, and blocked this individual from the process,” she added.
“According to the whistleblower, all election workers were given this same guidance. Reportedly, one of the individuals was a contractor and former Director of Elections Chris Thomas,” said McDaniel. She told reporters that the allegations have been referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of MI.
We have documented irregularities in Michigan.
In Wayne County, poll watchers were kept in the dark with blocked windows & padlocked doors.
At the TCF Center, a whistleblower said their supervisor asked them to illegally put dates on ballots. pic.twitter.com/VX5Lt0MYuK
— Ronna McDaniel (@RonnaMcDaniel) November 6, 2020
McDaniel went on to say that the RNC has deployed legal teams in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to investigate issues with vote counting and tabulation.
This is our democracy.
We need to pursue clear irregularities.
The RNC has already deployed legal teams in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to investigate issues with vote counting and tabulation to ensure the integrity of the election. pic.twitter.com/RWIZtP6IDT
— Ronna McDaniel (@RonnaMcDaniel) November 6, 2020
Update:
The fixed glitch in Oakland County flipped the result of the County Commissioner race, switching the win back to an incumbent Republican.
Fixed computer glitch turns losing Republican into a winner in Oakland County, Michigan https://t.co/PicfZeVooY
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 6, 2020