July 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS
About the investigators and writers ........................................................................................ 2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
I. Late Ballots. Late voter registrations. ................................................................................... 5
II. Discriminatory and partisan practices ................................................................................. 7
III. Unlawful re-registrations ................................................................................................. 10
IV. Electioneering violates the law ........................................................................................ 14
Summary .............................................................................................................................. 15
Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 15
About Michigan Fair Elections and Pure Integrity Michigan Elections.................................... 16

ABOUT THE INVESTIGATORS AND WRITERS

Bill Richardson, lead investigator and author, currently serves as Vice Chair of Pure Integrity
Michigan Elections and leads the PIME Legislative Committee. He has a master’s degree in
mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and retired recently after a 30-
year career in the automotive Industry.

Dee Davey, investigator, is a services marketing professional, gifted with an ability to see the big
picture and manage complex details. She chairs the Washtenaw Election Integrity Task Force
under the umbrella of Michigan Fair Elections.

Elizabeth Ayoub, editor, started her career working for an international company, transitioned
into teaching French and Latin while her children were young, and then became a Michigan
attorney. She resides in St. Johns.

Judi Bennett, investigator, was a contractor to Ford Motor Company and applied her extensive
skills in Microsoft Excel for data analysis.

Louis Avallone, investigator, serves as a PIME Board Member and assists various investigations
promoting transparency in Michigan elections. His past experiences include 25 years as an
automotive industry control system engineer focused on developing vehicle efficiency and
emissions control strategies.

Patrice Johnson, editor, chairs MFE and PIME. The former teacher founded five successful
companies and served as senior executive with a Fortune 100 technology company. Patrice
authored the book, the Fall and Rise of Tyler Johnson, which is the basis for a documentary film
aired nationwide on PBS in 2022.

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INTRODUCTION

This report, Ann Arbor Compromises Election Integrity during 2022 Election, analyzes
anomalies and apparent violations of Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) and federal law. It is
organized into the following four categories:
I. Late ballots. Late voter registrations.
A. Six hundred (600) ballots were cast and counted in the November 8, 2022,
election from residents who registered and voted after the polls closed on
November 8
B. One hundred twenty (120 ) of these late registrations occurred on November 9.
II. Discriminatory registration and voting practices. The two satellite clerk
offices were located in a discriminatory and partisan manner.
III. Illegal re-registrations.
A. One hundred eighty (180) voters were allowed to re-register and vote from
precincts within the city jurisdiction.
B. The delays and long lines that resulted from unlawful re-registrations amounted to
voter suppression.
IV. Electioneering. The distribution of free pizzas, water, hot cocoa, and
blankets as enticements for people to wait in line and vote was a violation of
electioneering laws.
How this report came about.

In the days before the 2022 election, two satellite voter registration offices appeared in the City of
Ann Arbor on the University of Michigan’s campuses. Election clerks in the state have the option to
engage in get-out-the-vote (GOTV) registration activities. The law requires election administrators
who choose to perform GOTV activities to follow unbiased and equitable practices throughout their
jurisdictions. In what might be considered a blatant demonstration of bias toward students, the Ann
Arbor City clerk placed the satellite sites solely and exclusively on the University of Michigan
campuses.

On November 8, as results of the 2022 election in Michigan began to be posted, media

headlines reported hours-long waits in lines to register and vote at the U-M campus. Election law
limits precincts to a maximum of 2,999 registered voters, and precincts are staffed and funded to
process voters efficiently and prevent line wait times from becoming a form of voter suppression.

Newscasters pictured students in queue, receiving pizzas, blankets, and drinks. Providing
enticements to vote is electioneering, and election law prohibits this practice.

Reports indicated that state-level election officials had dispatched a computer programmer
to adjust Ann Arbor’s voting systems. The purpose? To count ballots that were cast in the early

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morning hours of November 9 for the election that closed on November 8 at 8:00 p.m. If true,
people were registering and voting on November 9, the day after the legal deadline to close the
election.

People may not register and vote after 8 p.m., nor may they vote absentee after 8 p.m. Only
registered voters who are standing in line at 8 p.m. at an in-person polling place with a tabulator
may cast eligible ballots. To vote in person, a voter must personally feed their ballot into a
tabulator. The clerk satellite offices were places where people could register to vote and receive
an absentee ballot. The satellite sites were not polling places with tabulators. No one could vote
in person at a satellite office.

What was going on in the City of Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan?

Volunteers from Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME) and Michigan Fair Elections Institute
(MFE) investigated. Over the next seven months, they gathered open-source (publicly available)
documents and submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. They reviewed the
state’s official voter records, called the Qualified Voter File.

Talented citizen investigators obtained voter registration information from the Ann Arbor
City Clerk’s office, which was helpful during the process. They gathered and studied electronic
poll book information. They analyzed the complete voter registration list of same day registrants
in order to understand the total number of people who registered on election day and, as it turned
out, the day after the election.

Citizens for various walks of life, including engineers, auditors, teachers, and analysts—
interviewed clerks and studied Michigan and Federal law. They reviewed tabulator tapes for all
53 City of Ann Arbor precincts, including in-person and absentee voter records.

Voter history records provided time stamps as to when voters were registered. These records
enabled the investigators to determine how many voters were registered and allowed to vote
absentee (unlawfully) after the 8:00 p.m. deadline.

Throughout the process, investigators documented significant violations of law.

Guiding principles
PIME and MFE agree that all eligible voters should be encouraged and allowed to vote.
Every legitimate ballot should count one time per election. The United States, as a constitutional
republic, was designed to protect individual freedoms and the unalienable rights of every human
being.
Each person’s vote is their voice. They have a fundamental right to vote in elections
administered in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. Election laws were created to protect voter
rights and ensure the integrity of the electoral process, so every election should be conducted in a
fair and honest manner in accordance with the law.

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 Failure to uphold and apply the law in an equal and impartial manner undermines elections
in a number of ways.
1. Each ineligible vote cancels one eligible vote.
2. The unlawful processing of ineligible ballots or voter registrations suppresses
legitimate voters.
3. Violations of election law undermine public trust in our elections.

I. LATE BALLOTS. LATE VOTER REGISTRATIONS .

Michigan Compiled Law 168.731(3)

states, “a person may apply in person at
the clerk's office before 8 p.m. on election
day to vote as an absent voter.” It is a
violation of law to vote absentee after the
8 p.m. deadline.

However, time-stamped, voter

history records show that more than 600
individuals, mainly students at U-M
satellite registration offices, were
registered to vote absentee after the 8 p.m.
Ballots from voter registrations as late as November 9 were
election day deadline. Of these late
unlawfully cast and counted in the November 8 election.
registrants, 120 registered to vote and cast
absentee ballots on the day after the election, November 9, 2022.

These ineligible ballots were counted.

The image below shows official voter records obtained through FOIA. The falsification of
records implies an admission of guilt. To falsify records is illegal.

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 Voter History File shows a November 9 registration
for the November 8 Election

The example above is but one example of more than 600 time-stamped voter history records showing
registrants who were registered to vote after the November 8, 8:00 p.m. deadline. Of the 600, 120 voter records
were time stamped after midnight on the morning of November 9, 2022.

Clerk and clerk satellite offices versus polling locations

MCL 168.663 states that polling places are the in-person voting locations “in which the election
officials, challengers, voting machines or ballot boxes and voting booths, and persons in the
actual process of voting, are located.” (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-168-663.)

In other words, in-person voting occurs only in polling places. When a person feeds their
ballot into a tabulator and the vote is counted in their presence, then—and only then—have they
voted in person.

In contrast, clerks’ offices and their satellite offices are not in-person polling places. They
set up in separate areas from the polling locations and are voter registration sites. They do not
have tabulators. Eligible but unregistered individuals may register to vote at the clerk’s office.
They may pick up an absentee ballot at a clerk’s office. Often, drop boxes are nearby, allowing
voters to deposit their absentee ballot in an approved secrecy sleeve before the 8 p.m. deadline.
But no one votes in person at a clerk’s office.

Michigan election law does not allow the receipt of absentee ballots after 8 p.m. on election
day. Neither does the law allow a person to register to vote after 8 p.m. on election day. Anyone
registering to vote after 8 p.m. at the clerk’s office may vote in future elections. They may not,
however, vote in the most recent election because they missed the deadline.

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SOS Benson issued erroneous guidance.

At 6:19 p.m. on November 8, Secretary of

State Jocelyn Benson tweeted erroneous
guidance.

Whether you’re at your precinct in line

to vote or at your local clerk’s office in
line to register and vote, as long as you
are in line by 8p you can still register and
vote.

Election administrators and voters who

followed the Secretary’s guidance violated
the law.

II. DISCRIMINATORY AND

PARTISAN PRACTICES

Election clerks have the option to open

satellite clerk offices in order to offer voters
increased convenience to register and vote
absentee. At all times, however, clerks must
follow Michigan Compiled Law and Federal
“Whether you’re at your precinct in line to vote or at your
laws, which require them to treat all local clerk’s office in line to register and vote, as long as you
constituents equally and in a non- are in line by 8p you can still register and vote.” Secretary of
discriminatory manner. State Jocelyn Benson’s tweet is misleading and contrary to
Michigan law. Further down in the fine print, her tweet
Any State program or activity to contradicts itself, stating, “at your polling place” and “you
protect the integrity of the electoral have a right to cast your ballot.”
process…shall: (1) be uniform and
nondiscriminatory.
--National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) SEC. 8(b.)

The figure below depicts all 17 U-M housing locations, the clerk’s office, and the two
satellite clerk offices established on the U-M campuses.

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 U-M Housing Locations and Clerk Satellite Office

Satellite offices were placed in such a way as to target university students in student housing communities.

Readers will note that, of Ann Arbor’s 23 largest senior living centers, a significant cluster
is situated in the southwest corner of the city near the Briarwood Mall.

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 Ann Arbor: Senior Centers vs. Satellite Registration Offices.

Of the 23 largest senior living centers in Ann Arbor, a significant cluster is situated in the southwest corner of the
city near the Briarwood Mall. Senior citizens tend to have more difficulty driving or walking than 20-year-old
college students have, yet no satellite registration offices were place near them to accommodate their greater
need.

The placement of the two satellite offices depicted above benefited university students in
student housing communities. However, no satellite offices were placed within close proximity
to senior citizen living centers, whose large numbers of residents would tend to have greater
difficulty reaching election locations.

In favoring students over other demographic groups, the city clerk acted in a discriminatory
manner.

According to data published on the Ann Arbor Clerk’s website, precincts containing at
least one U-M student housing complex voted 94.7% for the Democratic candidate for governor
in the November 2022 election. Considering this propensity to vote for one party, the placement
of the satellite offices begs the question: Were the locations selected for partisan reasons?

Regardless of the Ann Arbor city clerk’s motivations, when she ignored the largest
concentrations of residential facilities for senior citizens and when she, instead, chose to place
the two satellite clerk offices on the University of Michigan’s two campuses, she failed to
administer her jurisdiction’s election in a “uniform and non-discriminatory” manner.

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Partisan overreach

Political parties are lawfully allowed to rally voter support for candidates and conduct get-out-
the-vote activities on a partisan basis. Government officials, nonprofit organizations, and public
universities, however, are required to act in a nonpartisan manner. Election clerks are
government officials, so are required to perform their duties in a nonpartisan manner.

The prohibition on partisan election administration exists for good reasons: 1) The
government is funded through taxpayer dollars, 2) government officials wield inordinate power,
and 3) unrestrained governments have a history of becoming tyrannical. Likewise, public
universities and nonprofit 501(C)(3) organizations, due to their taxpayer funding and tax-free
status, are required to act in a non-partisan manner.

III. UNLAWFUL RE- REGISTRATIONS

--180 illegal re-registrations on election day and into the early hours of Nov. 9, the
day after election day

Try to re-register to vote or obtain an absentee ballot too close to an election, and your
friendly local clerk will send you packing to your correct precinct. Fourteen (14) days before
election day, Michigan law closes the door to changing registrations within a person’s voting
jurisdiction. Municipal and township clerks across the state abide by the law as standard
procedure.

However, official state records (cross referencing the same day registrant list with an earlier
QVF file) show that the Ann Arbor City clerk ignored the law prohibiting re-registrations within
the same jurisdiction in at least 180 instances on election day and into the early hours of
November 9, 2022. Of the 180 re-registrants, roughly 150, or 83 percent, re-registered at one of
the two U-M campus satellite offices.

Voter suppression

Unlawful re-registers at campus satellite locations caused massive delays and created long lines.
Eligible voters who saw the lines on the local news or came to vote no doubt felt discouraged at
the hours’ long waits. It is impossible to estimate how many gave up on voting and went home.

The Ann Arbor officials’ failure to abide by the law had the effect of denying eligible voters
their right to vote. This failure amounted to voter suppression.

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Hours-long lines on University of Michigan campus as students scramble to vote
Published: Nov. 08, 2022, 7:55 p.m.

Hundreds of University of Michigan students waited in line for hours to register to vote at the Ann Arbor city clerk's
satellite office at the UM Museum of Art on Election Night, Nov. 8, 2022. Many students huddled in donated
blankets and were served donated pizza and hot cocoa as temperatures dropped below 45 degrees. Image source:
MLive.

--Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News, Hours-long lines on University of Michigan campus as students scramble to
vote (https://www.mlive.com/politics/2022/11/hours-long-lines-on-university-of-michigan-campus-as-students-
scramble-to-vote.html)

New voters waited hours to register and vote. ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The
final vote in Ann Arbor was cast at 2 a.m. the morning after the
midterm election began. https://www.clickondetroit.com/all-about-
ann-arbor/2022/11/09/meet-the-university-of-michigan-student-who-
waited-in-line-for-6-hours-to-register-to-vote-cast-ballot/

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 In some instances, the students' legally authorized polling site was located only a few blocks from
where they re-registered on campus. “The Curious Case of Student X” below illustrates how one re-registrant
needed walk only a couple of blocks to vote in the lawful precinct.

The Curious Case of Student X

The map above shows one example of more than 180 unlawful re-registrations that occurred within the City of Ann Arbor
jurisdiction.

Clerk ignorance?

While promoting its two new campus satellite offices, Ann Arbor City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry’s office
displayed multiple references to the legal requirement for previously registered Ann Arbor voters to vote in
their own precincts. Note the wording on the clerk office announcements:

*ELECTION DAY--Open for voters registering to vote on election day. If you are already
registered and would like to vote on election day, you must go to your assigned polling location.

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Ryan Stanton of the Ann Arbor News, wrote:

Ann Arbor City Clerk Jackie Beaudry confirmed shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday there were hours-long
lines at both the city’s satellite offices on the UM campus, where the city has been processing
same-day registration requests from students. Wait times are estimated to be up to four hours.
--Hours-long lines on University of Michigan campus as students scramble to vote
MLive/Ann Arbor News

Clerk Beaudry can hardly claim ignorance of the law. At the time of the November 2022 election, she
had served more than 17 years, since April 2005, as Ann Arbor City Clerk. According to the Clerk's 2019
Fiscal Report, published on the A2gov.org website, Beaudry “is a Master Municipal Clerk, a Certified
Michigan Municipal Clerk, and holds a Master of Public Administration specializing in local government
management.”

Michigan Compiled Law (MC) 168.497(2) applies to voters who vote in person:

(2) An individual who is not registered to vote but possesses the qualifications of an elector as
provided in section 492 or an individual who is not registered to vote in the city or township in which
he or she is registering to vote may apply for registration in person at the city or township clerk's
office of the city or township in which he or she resides from the fourteenth day before an election
and continuing through the day of the election. (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-168-497)

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MCL 168.761(3) applies to voters who vote absentee:

… only an individual who is not a registered elector, or an individual who is not

registered to vote in the city or township in which he or she is registering to vote, and
who registers to vote on election day in person with the clerk of the city or township in
which the individual resides may apply for and complete an absent voter ballot in
person at the clerk's office on election day.

IV. ELECTIONEERING VIOLATES THE LAW

Why would students wait in line for up to six hours to re-register and vote absentee when they
could have voted quickly in person a few blocks away where they were already registered?
According to “Click on Detroit” news channel 4 reporting the Washtenaw Democratic party
bought and delivered pizza to the students waiting in line to vote.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E14o82KmAkQ)
Other reports and images document that one local political party provided potential voters with
hot chocolate, water, and blankets.
Michigan Compiled Law 168.931(1)(a) states:

A person shall not, either directly or indirectly, give, lend, or promise valuable
consideration, to or for any person, as an inducement to influence the manner of
voting by a person relative to a candidate or ballot question.

“Line to register to register and vote and the Washington [Washtenaw]

Democratic Committee brought the pies.”
https://youtu.be/E14o82KmAkQ

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SUMMARY

Significant violations of Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) and federal laws occurred during the
2022 election in Ann Arbor.

Late registrations and late ballots. At least 600 voters were allowed to register at satellite
clerk office locations after the 8:00 p.m. deadline on election day 2022.2 After-deadline absentee
ballots were unlawfully accepted and counted. A minimum of 120 voters registered on
November 9, and their absentee ballots were counted in the election that closed at 8 p.m. on
November 8.

Unlawful altering of records. Official records were altered, and computer systems were
reportedly changed in order to allow the unlawful counting of late ballots.

Discriminatory practices. The clerk, in placing two satellite clerk offices on the
University of Michigan’s two campuses showed favoritism to students and discriminated
against other demographic groups, including senior citizens.1

Illegal re-registrations. More than 180 already-registered voters in the City of

Ann Arbor were re-registered in a different Ann Arbor precinct after the close of the
statutory 14-day window. A full 150 of those unlawful re-registrations occurred at the
campus satellite offices.3

Voter suppression. Unlawful re-registrations of voters within the clerk’s

jurisdiction created long wait times in lines and amounted to voter suppression.

Electioneering. Electioneering is bribery. It is illegal. Yet, one party appears to

have disregarded the law and engaged in electioneering in a targeted fashion,
providing gifts (bribes) to potential voters to entice them to stay in long lines and
vote.

RECOMMENDATIONS

PIME and MFE believe it is important for all eligible voters to have the same access to voting.
Every ineligible vote cancels one eligible vote, so practices that violate the law or favor one
demographic group over another must be halted.

It is this report’s recommendation that these findings serve as guidelines to restore integrity
to Michigan’s elections going forward.

Those who committed unlawful acts should be held to account.

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 Steps need to be taken to eliminate the unlawful practices that occurred in Ann Arbor
during this past election cycle. Those steps should not include the amendment of existing laws or
the enactment of new laws that will enable unethical, unfair, or dishonest behavior.

Unlawful, biased, and unfair acts must be prevented from recurring if we are to restore
integrity to Michigan’s elections and have the fair and honest elections that we all desire and
deserve.

ABOUT MICHIGAN FAIR ELECTIONS AND PURE INTEGRITY MICHIGAN

ELECTIONS

Michigan Fair Elections Institute (MFE) is a Michigan nonprofit organization composed of

volunteers. Our local task forces, alliances with like-minded organizations, and statewide
committees work to build a successful and permanent election integrity infrastructure. We take
action to ensure the state’s laws are designed to protect election integrity and election
administrators uphold and enforce the laws.

We encourage readers to join our growing team. There is no charge to belong, though
donations are welcomed. Simply go to the website and sign up for the newsletter. Better yet,
volunteer.

Website: mifairelections.org.
Social media: Facebook, Telegram, Rumble, Signal,
and Truth
Email: [email protected]

Pure Integrity for Michigan Elections is a Michigan nonprofit 501(C)4 organization whose
mission is to help restore election integrity to the Great Lakes State. PIME is a peaceful,
nonpartisan political movement that welcomes all who support election integrity and the U.S.
and Michigan Constitutions. We urge you to join our growing team of supporters.

Website: pureintegritymichiganelections.org.
Social: Rumble, Facebook, Signal, Truth, and
Telegram
Email: [email protected]

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