A document review of Detroit’s 2020 absentee ballots claims thousands of ballots may have been counted without the official signed return envelopes required under Michigan election law.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A new investigation into Detroit’s 2020 election records claims that a significant percentage of absentee ballots cast from taxpayer-subsidized housing addresses lacked the official absentee ballot return envelopes required under Michigan law, raising renewed scrutiny over election procedures used during the presidential election.
According to findings described in a report highlighted by The Gateway Pundit, researchers reviewing absentee ballot records from 51 taxpayer-subsidized housing complexes in Detroit claim that 12.4% of absentee votes examined had no accompanying official ballot envelope on file despite legal requirements mandating their use.
The investigation involved matching absentee voter records against absentee ballot envelopes obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Yehuda Miller. Researchers said they reviewed absentee-only voters living at the subsidized housing addresses and compared those records with envelope documentation provided by the City of Detroit.
Michigan election law requires absentee ballots to be returned inside an official state-issued envelope containing a voter signature certificate. Under Michigan Compiled Laws section 168.764a, voters must place completed ballots into a secrecy sleeve and then into the official signed return envelope before submission.
The report states ballots received without the required official return envelope or without a valid voter signature are not legally eligible to be counted. Researchers additionally cited Michigan election fraud statutes, including MCL 168.932, which classify knowingly processing improperly returned absentee ballots as a felony offense punishable by up to five years in prison and substantial fines.
The investigation raised questions about whether Detroit election officials knowingly processed ballots lacking legally required documentation.
The report specifically questioned whether Janice Winfrey was aware of absentee ballots allegedly being counted without ballot envelopes.
Researchers also revisited criticism surrounding actions taken by Jocelyn Benson during the 2020 election cycle, including the mailing of unsolicited absentee ballot applications to millions of Michigan voters and guidance regarding signature verification standards during expanded mail-in voting procedures.
The investigation included numerous examples of ballot envelope irregularities identified during the review process.
One ballot reportedly involved a voter registered at what researchers described as a nonexistent Detroit address. According to the report, the voter successfully registered, received an absentee ballot, and cast a vote despite the address allegedly being fraudulent. Researchers claimed the voter has since been removed from Michigan voter rolls.
Another ballot envelope reportedly displayed a German mailing address while allegedly being signed and received by Detroit election officials on the same day in October 2020. Researchers questioned how international delivery could have occurred within hours.
The report also examined overseas voting under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, noting that overseas voters may face different residency verification standards than domestic voters. Several examples included ballots tied to overseas forwarding addresses while maintaining Detroit voter registrations.
Additional ballot issues cited in the report included envelopes allegedly lacking voter signatures, ballots dated months before absentee ballots were officially available, multiple conflicting receipt timestamps, altered official timestamps, and ballots marked “rejected” that nevertheless appeared to be counted in final voter records.
Researchers additionally referenced so-called “ghost voter” ballots involving write-in ovals filled without accompanying candidate names, which allegedly required manual adjudication during vote tabulation. The report claimed more than 10,000 such ballots were identified across absentee and election-day ballots.
The review was conducted with assistance from more than 100 volunteers who reportedly entered and reviewed data from over 155,000 ballot envelopes. Organizers said the effort involved extensive FOIA litigation, document storage, and database development work.
The investigation’s organizers said additional findings involving discrepancies between absentee ballots and envelope totals will be released in future reports.
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