In the Documents: Allegations of Interference by Election Denial Group During 2022 Michigan Recounts

In recent years, the election denial movement has given rise to the proliferation of so-called “election integrity” groups across the country. From demanding recounts and hand counts of ballots to bombarding local election offices with baseless claims of voter fraud, right-wing activists have frequently disrupted democratic processes in an effort to further undermine confidence in the vote.

Last year, one such group in Michigan — the Election Integrity Fund and Force (EIF) — was behind recounts of two ballot initiatives, one that expanded voting rights and another that enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. EIF recruited and trained challengers to monitor recount sites, and according to reporting by Votebeat following the December recounts, election officials encountered problems with some challengers who had attempted to touch ballots they wanted rejected or had threatened officials with criminal charges.

An email obtained by American Oversight provides more details about complaints from public interest groups about the conduct of EIF challengers who were disturbing the recount process, including by touching election materials, entering certain areas without authorization, or threatening and harassing workers. 

In the email, an attorney representing the groups Promote the Vote and Reproductive Freedom for All urged the Michigan Board of State Canvassers to authorize recount supervisors to direct challengers to cease any conduct that violated recount rules. 

The email alleges that, during Dec. 7 recounts in Oakland, Jackson, and Midland counties, members of EIF were seen:

• “touching voting materials and equipment, including ballot containers, ballots, statements of votes, tally sheets, and recount forms, and other related voting materials”;
• “standing or squatting next to election workers on the ‘wrong side of the table’ while the workers were sorting and counting ballots”;
• “repeatedly asking questions about the ‘chain of custody’ of voting materials and request[ing] that election workers stop counting so that EIF representatives could photograph or videotape various voting materials”; and
• “threatening or loudly telling election officials that the workers were committing fraud and going to jail.”

The recounts, which were costly and time-consuming, resulted in no new totals that changed the outcome of the election. The recount fees were paid by the America Project, a national Trump-aligned group headed by former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne and former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, both prominent election deniers. Flynn was among a number of Trump allies whom a special grand jury in Georgia’s Fulton County had recommended for indictment for their involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. (Read more here about those whom the regular grand jury ended up indicting in August.)

The disruption of election processes and the harassment of officials by right-wing voter-fraud activists has had an alarming effect on the administration of elections going into 2024. In a March survey of election officials conducted by the Brennan Center, 45 percent of respondents said they feared for the safety of their colleagues on the job, and nearly a third said they had experienced harassment, abuse, or threats at work. Since 2020, election workers have been resigning in large numbers, with one recent report finding that in some states more than half of local administrators will be new on the job since the last presidential race.