A Detroit Election Official Was Forced Into Hiding After Refusing To Certify Election Results
One of two GOP election officials in Michigan who temporarily blocked certifying the voting results in Wayne County last month said he had to go into hiding after daring to publicly question what he viewed as voting irregularities in Detroit.
Much has been made of claims of fraud and irregularities following this year’s contested presidential election. A flood of mail-in ballots, accusations that voting machine software flipped votes and refusals to embrace transparency from Democrats have made a mess of the election in a number of key swing states.
William Hartmann and his fellow Wayne County Republican canvasser Monica Palmer voted against certifying the election results in the state’s most populous county two weeks after the election, citing irregularities.
The scene at Detroit’s absentee ballot counting center is growing more heated. The windows now being covered up. Allegations of violations. Sec. of State says she welcomes challenges. pic.twitter.com/oUL4A0h3Ku
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) November 4, 2020
Palmer and Hartmann apparently saw issues that were much more than anecdotal.
The four-person Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked at 2-2 along party lines on Nov. 17, leading to the two Republicans receiving public belittling and what could be considered threats.
Here is just one sample of the public bruising Palmer received:
MICHIGAN.?
WATCH as Democrat State Rep-Elect Abraham Aiyash threatens the children of Wayne County Board of Canvassers member Monica Palmer.
“I want you to think about what this means for your kids, who probably go to [redacted]”…
*CHILLING*? pic.twitter.com/uX3SRxct6a
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) November 18, 2020
“Palmer complained that certain Detroit precincts were out of balance, meaning that absentee ballot books did not match the number of ballots cast,” Politico reported last month.
Palmer and Hartmann issued a statement about their decision to vote against certification.
“We deserve better — but more importantly, the American people deserve better — than to be forced to accept an outcome achieved through intimidation, deception, and threats of violence,” Hartmann and Palmer said in a joint statement. “Wayne County voters need to have full confidence in this process.”
Both eventually voted to certify before later backpedaling. They said they were threatened for their decision. Their votes to certify stood, though.
Now, according to Hartmann, his life has been turned upside down. He told The Epoch Times that after the decision to block certification, he was left “scared” and went underground.
“[The police] actually had people stationed outside in different locations, watching, in case anything happened. They were there for three or four days,” he told the outlet.
Hartmann, who said he refrained from going outside for a week, added, “I was afraid that somebody might recognize me when I was out and want to beat me up. … The news media went to my house and filmed the front of my house and my address.
“And then my website was doxxed. And I got over 1,500 hate emails. And you got to then throw social media on top of that.”
Hartmann also said he was told to “burn in hell” numerous times, but didn’t receive any specific threats. Still, he had a friend go to his house and gather some things for him while he stayed away from home.
“[The friend] arranged with the local police department to have an unmarked van and a couple police cars go to my house. I gave him the key and I stayed in a remote location and we communicated using FaceTime … and I told them what to get,” he said.
“So they did that. And then, the police cars sort of blocked in the news media vans. And then the other van — they had taken the license plates off just so that they couldn’t be tracked down — and that drove different ways till they got to where I was. And then I got all my stuff and I drove back to where I was staying.”
Hartmann said he is back home now, but is still attempting to reconcile the election results which sent him into hiding after he couldn’t in good conscience vote to certify them. Those results still don’t make sense to him.
He would still like answers to why, as the Epoch Times reported, “71 percent of Detroit’s Absent Voter Counting Boards didn’t balance between the machine count and the paper ballot count, and no explanation was provided as to why.”
For those who have contended that Democrats have turned the country into a gangland war zone and now a banana republic, the story of Hartmann’s recent ordeal bolsters their argument. Radical leftists apparently feel emboldened enough to burn and pillage without fear of consequence, so what would stop some of those same people from taking the violence to another level?
It only makes sense that Hartmann would feel frightened after witnessing the antics of out-of-control leftists all year, which have been frighteningly un-American. It’s a sad day when an American citizen and a public servant feels he must go into hiding after questioning the results of a questionable election.
As for Palmer, Hartmann’s fellow GOP canvasser, she apparently hasn’t had an easy time either since first voting to block certification of the Wayne County results.
The Justice Department, without identifying Palmer, announced Wednesday a New Hampshire woman named Katelyn Jones had been charged with threatening a female member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.
WOMAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MAKING THREATS AGAINST CHAIR OF WAYNE COUNTY BOARD OF CANVASERS https://t.co/cXlUBQeydR
— U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider (@USAO_MIE) December 23, 2020
MLive quickly reported it had confirmed that the female victim is Palmer.
“According to the affidavit, on November 18, 2020, Jones is alleged to have knowingly and willfully transmitted communications containing threats to injure [adult victim 1] and her family due to actions AV-1 took in her official capacity at Chair of the Wayne County Board of Canvasers,” the DOJ wrote in a media release.
“The affidavit describes a series of threatening text messages that were sent from a phone alleged to be associated with Jones to AV-1’s phone. In those texts Jones called AV-1 a racist and a terrorist and used graphic and profane language. It is also alleged that Jones sent AV-1 two graphic photographs of a bloody, naked, mutilated, dead woman lying on the ground. Immediately following, Jones sent AV-1 a photograph of AV-1’s minor daughter. AV-1 also received similar threats on her Instagram account.”
In more sane times, people such as Hartmann and Palmer might have been viewed as patriotic whistleblowers, and their concerns would have been given a platform. But these are not sane times. Wayne County’s two GOP canvassers spoke out against what they saw as potential as a compromised election, and they’ve both been sent a very clear message.
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