March 21, 2021 Epoch Times by Cachary Stieber
Commissioners in a Michigan county late last week voted unanimously to hand count every ballot cast in an upcoming primary, avoiding the use of Dominion Voting System machines.
Antrim County commissioners voted against a proposal from county clerk Sheryl Guy to apportion $5,080 to reinstall election management system software on a computer and tabulators for the county, which would enable using the machines in the May 4 primary.
Guy wanted to pay Pro V&V, a testing and verification firm, to update the management system. She said officials cannot use the equipment because of a forensic audit done as part of a court case that was brought against the county, alleging fraud in the 2020 election. The plaintiff pointed to how the county initially reported a victory for candidate Joe Biden before saying a human error showed President Donald Trump won by thousands of votes.
Commissioners expressed concern that reprogramming the machines and then using them would violate a judge’s order in the case, Bailey v. Antrim County.
“If we use them, we have to delete them, which is contradictory to a court order,” Commissioner Terry VanAlstine said before the vote. “We can’t delete the data that’s on the machines. If you use the current machines, they need to be swiped, they need to be cleared. And we can’t do that.”
That left commissioners with several options: approving the purchase of new machines, which was estimated to cost some $150,000, asking the the court to allow the use of the machines in the upcoming primary, or resorting to hand counting the ballots.
“We need to buy these new machines and stop playing games,” Commissioner Christian Marcus said at one point.
The latter choice, which was eventually agreed upon, appears to put the county in violation with state rules, but there was hope state officials would understand the unique issues the county is dealing with.
“The state says we can’t. But let them come and tell us that we can’t given our circumstance,” Ed Boettcher told colleagues, adding “I see our option being is that we’re going to say we’re going to hand count them and let the state tell us we can’t.”
There was also discussion about borrowing tabulators from the state or renting some from Election Source, a Grand Rapids-based election equipment and and service provider.
“But I don’t want to do that unless I’m forced to,” Guy said.
The motion included directing the county lawyer to draft a letter to the state alerting them to the decision.
“The ballots will be exactly as they are now. We’re just going to count them manually instead of with the machine. But we want to make sure they’re going to certify it,” Boettcher said.
Requests for comment to Dominion, Pro V&V, and the office of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson weren’t returned.
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