Monica Palmer & William Hartmann: Michigan Republicans Initially Voted Against Certifying Election Results

William Hartmann and Monica Palmer are the two Michigan Republicans who initially refused to certify the Wayne County, Michigan, vote totals in the presidential election. They’re being hotly criticized by Democrats and Michigan state officials. They then voted to certify, but they’ve now signed affidavits saying they are rescinding their votes to certify because they say they were bullied by Democratic members of the board.

According to The Washington Post, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers is composed of four members: Hartmann and Palmer are the two Republican members on the board and initially voted against certification. The two Democrats voted for it, so a state regulatory board would have decided the County’s victor on Nov. 23.

The Detroit Free Press reported that the commissioners were doxed and threatened after their initial vote.

However, later, after criticism erupted, all four members of the Board, including Hartmann and Palmer, voted to certify the results, according to Patch. In the second vote, they added “a request to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to audit precincts that were discovered to be out-of-balance,” Patch reported. Again, though, the two have now rescinded those votes.
The Free Press reported that Trump called Monica Palmer after the meeting. “He was checking to make sure I was safe after seeing/hearing about the threats and doxxing,” Palmer wrote to the newspaper.

According to Fox News, Hartmann said he “observed about 71% of Detroit’s 134 Absent Voter Counting Boards “were left unbalanced and many unexplained.”

According to The Detroit News, the initial deadlock came after “absentee ballot poll books at 70% of Detroit’s 134 absentee counting boards were found to be out of balance without explanation. The mismatches varied anywhere from one to more than four votes.” But the Secretary of State said that wasn’t an indication of fraud.

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads by nearly 148,000 votes in Michigan, according to The Post, but President Donald Trump and his campaign have leveled charges of voter fraud that so far haven’t made any headway before judges.

Because Wayne County is home to Detroit, which has a large Black population, Mark Brewer, a leading Democratic election lawyer in Michigan, called the vote “outrageous, unprecedented and racist” to the Post.

According to ClickonDetroit, the meeting came after the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected a GOP lawsuit to delay certification of the vote totals. A judge has said he didn’t see convincing evidence of voter fraud, according to The Post.

Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Secretary of State, wrote in a tweet, “Michigan’s Bureau of Elections stands ready to fulfill its duty to complete the canvas for Wayne County, address any clerical errors and improve the quality of the canvass overall. Importantly, this is not an indication that any votes were improperly cast or tabulated.”

“In refusing to approve the results of the election in Wayne County, the two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers have placed partisan politics above their legal duty to certify the election results,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement before all four board members voted for certification. “The people have spoken: Joe Biden won Michigan by more than 140,000 votes. Today’s action is a blatant attempt to undermine the will of the voters. The process, however, will move forward. Under Michigan law, the Board of State of Canvassers will now finish the job and I have every expectation they will certify the results when the job is done.”

People expressed anger on social media.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Hartmann’s Facebook Page Contains the Slogan ‘Taxed Enough Already’ & Comments About Voter Fraud

Under his name on Facebook, Hartmann’s page reads “taxed enough already.” He lists these positions:

• Communications Director at 12th Congressional District Republicans of Michigan
• Chief Operations Officer at All In One Campaign
• CEO & Technical Engineer at Synergy Services, LLC
• Grunt at Diggy’s Adventure
• State Administrator for Michigan at RVotes
• Vice Chair at Wayne County Board of Canvassers
• Executive Committee at 12th Congressional District Republicans of Michigan
• Owner/CEO at Custom Renovation, LLC
• Worked at Diggy’s Adventure

His top post on Facebook reads, “OK legal minds. What term do you use for what Gretch is doing? She has been ruled to have no authority so she has her minions do it instead.” That presumably refers to Michigan’s governor.

Photos show him with a Trump button at the 2016 Republican National Convention standing by the Michigan delegation sign.

In 2018, he wrote, “Renewed my Oath of Office for the Wayne County Board of Canvassers this fine day. Our objective is to make sure every voters vote counts and that all elections are carried out per election laws. This is regardless of party affiliation.”

In July, he posted a picture of Attorney General Bill Barr morphing into Mel Gibson’s character in Braveheart. “Justice is coming. It’s not going to be pretty,” it read.

He also shared a story about Barr authorizing federal prosecutors to investigate voter fraud. “If you are legally entitled to vote you should be able too,” he wrote.

“Be a critical thinker. The MSM does not call the elections. More to come…” he wrote on Nov. 9. He added, “As predicted: Not even a week after the election and they’ve now got a covid vaccine that’s 90% effective.” He added, “I’m not really one to promote conspiracy theories but look up hammer and scorecard. Interesting.”

On November 7, he wrote, “I’m reading the news on how great things are now that Biden and Harris are in as declared by the MSM. What will happen if it doesn’t happen once the official results are tallied? I wouldn’t sell the farm yet.” On November 3, he wrote, “#RedWave2020 #winning #MAGA.” He shared a graphic that read, “only you can prevent socialism,” and captioned it “RED WAVE.’

He also posted negative commentary about Biden and shared information about Trump campaign events. On October 27, he wrote, “We’ve got trump yard signs and more at the Victory Center in Riverview. Open today until 9pm. Come on down. KEEP UP THE PRESSURE.”

He shared graphics showing Michael Dukakis, Tom Dewey, and Al Gore being announced as winners of the presidential election and wrote, “The last time the MSM predicted who was going to be President.”

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Palmer Is the Chairperson of the Board of Canvassers & Works in the Auto Industry

According to the Detroit News, Palmer lives in Grosse Pointe Woods and “works in finance in the auto industry.” She previously served as a trustee for Florence Township in Michigan in 2011, the newspaper reported.

“Palmer has worked on political campaigns for candidates for the county commission, state Legislature, Congress, governor and the presidency,” the newspaper reported, adding that she “knocked on doors, made phone calls and distributed literature.”

She moved to Detroit in 2017 “became involved in a campaign to reopen several closed elementary schools in the Grosse Pointes,” the newspaper reported.

An ethics complaint in October 2020 accused her of a conflict of interest because of her involvement in a school board race.

Palmer’s LinkedIn page says she works as a “finance professional with demonstrated success in driving improved bottom-line performance in the financial services, health care and manufacturing industries.”

Palmer is director operations for National Fleet Services in the Greater Detroit area and previously worked as a senior financial analyst for Stryker.

She worked as office manager for Flying Colors Aviation, Inc., as a cost accountant for TH Plastics, inc; as billing manager for GT Financial Services, Inc., and as assistant controller for TH Plastics, Inc.

She has a bachelor’s in business administration and accounting information management from Davenport University and an associate of science degree in business/commerce at Glen Oaks Community College.
She served as treasurer of ACE Academy Charter School, as a policy circle connector for The Policy Circle, and as assistant basketball coach for Lil Lady Rams basketball.

“Monica has great follow up/through. She is extremely efficient and handles customers deftly. She is one with whom it is a pleasure to do business,” a company owner wrote in a recommendation.

On Twitter, she’s retweeted prominent conservative personalities like Candace Owens. She’s retweeted posts critical of Michigan Governor Whitmer and in support of John James, the Republican who was running for Senate.

In 2016, she wrote on Twitter, “We cannot afford Hillary Clinton’s economic agenda that will further bankrupt our nation and our citizens. #NeverHillary.”

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers’ website lists the following members:

CHAIRPERSON – Monica Palmer, Republican
VICE-CHAIRPERSON – Jonathan C. Kinloch, Democrat
MEMBER – William Hartmann, Republican
MEMBER – Allen Wilson, Democrat

At the meeting, according to The Post, Palmer said she was voting no because “I believe we do not have complete and accurate information in those poll books.”

She previously criticized Democrats being chosen for poll worker positions in Detroit, saying, “Republican applicants were either rejected or flat out never received a call from the City of Detroit. While there was ample opportunity for Detroit to faithfully follow through on what Michigan election law requires of them, the evidence at TCF raises questions about the hiring process for Detroit Election Inspectors, specific to the absentee counting board.”

In August, she shared a story on LinkedIn about the Michigan primary reading, “Recorded ballot counts in 72% of Detroit’s absentee voting precincts didn’t match the number of ballots cast, spurring officials in Michigan’s largest county to ask the state to investigate ahead of a pivotal presidential election.”

“Each of the 83 Boards of County Canvassers in the State of Michigan is currently composed of two Republican members and two Democratic members, appointed by the County Board of Commissioners to four year terms,” the website explains.

“The Board members are responsible for canvassing the votes cast within the county they serve. The Board members certify elections for all local, countywide and district offices which are contained entirely within the county they serve. The Board members are responsible for inspecting the county’s ballot containers every four years. The County Canvass Board also conducts recounts for all units of government within the county they serve.”

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Trump & His Supporters Have Raised Michigan Vote Fraud Allegations

Voter fraud allegations emerged in an affidavit contained in a lawsuit filed by Great Lakes Justice Law Center.

“An election employee with the City of Detroit was working at a polling location for approximately three weeks prior to the election. This City of Detroit employee directly observed, on a daily basis, other City of Detroit election workers and employees coaching voters to vote for Joe Biden and the Democrat party,” the lawsuit claims. “This employee witnessed these workers and employees encouraging voters to do a straight Democrat ballot and witnessed these election workers and employees going over to the voting booths with voters in order to watch them vote and coach them for whom to vote.”

According to the Detroit News, the lawsuit relies entirely on the affidavits of Jacob, who is a city of Detroit employee, and four Republican poll challengers to outline alleged fraud in the Wayne County vote.

David Fink, the lead lawyer for the city, told Fox 2 Detroit that the lawsuit is “not grounded in fact, not grounded in logic, it’s based on conspiracy theories, all of which have already been debunked. … We have been meticulous in fighting to make sure that everything was done right. We wish that these people bringing these lawsuits would be as careful as we were before they raise these unfounded allegations.”

The lawsuit is seeking a new election in Wayne County.

The Detroit News reports that Jessy Jacob has been a city employee for “decades.” However, she is on furlough, the newspaper reported. A 2009 letter calls her a city engineer. Her salary was more than $87,000 in 2018. In an affidavit, she alleged that voters were coached to vote for Biden.

This is what Jacob’s affidavit says in full:

I worked at the election headquarters for most of September and I started working at a satellite location for most of October, 2020. I processed absentee ballot packages to be sent to voters while I worked at the election headquarters in September 2020 along with 70-80 other poll workers. I was instructed by my supervisor to adjust the mailing date of these absentee ballot packages to be dated earlier than they were actually sent. The supervisor was making announcements for all workers to engage in this practice. At the satellite location, I processed voter registrations and issued absentee ballots for people to vote in person at the location.

I directly observed, on a daily basis, City of Detroit election workers and employees coaching and trying to coach voters to vote for Joe Biden and the Democrat party. I witnessed these workers and employees encouraging voters to do a straight Democrat ballot. I witnessed these election workers and employees going over to the voting booths with voters in order to watch them vote and coach them for whom to vote. During the last two weeks while working at this satellite location, I was specifically instructed by my supervisor not to ask for a driver’s license or any photo I.D. when a person was trying to vote.

I observed a large number of people who came to the satellite location to vote in-person, but they had already applied for an absentee ballot. These people were allowed to vote in-person and were not required to return the mailed absentee ballot or sign an affidavit that the voter lost the mailed absentee ballot. Whenever I processed an absentee voter application or in-person registration, I was instructed to input the person’s name, address, and date of birth into the Qualified Voter File (QVF) system. The QVF system can be accessed and edited by any election processor with proper credentials in the State of Michigan at any time and from any location with internet access. I worked at the satellite location until the polls closed on November 3, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. and properly completed the entry of all absentee ballots into the QVF by 8:30 p.m.

I then reported to work at the TCF Center on November 4, 2020, at 8:30 a.m. to process ballots. I was instructed not to validate any ballots and not to look for any deficiencies in the ballots. Absentee ballots that were received in the mail would have the voter’s signature on the envelope. While I was at the TCF Center, I was instructed not to look at any of the signatures on the absentee ballots, and I was instructed not to compare the signature on the absentee ballot with the signature on file. All absentee ballots that existed were required to be inputted into the QVF system by 9:00 p.m. on November 3, 2020. This was required to be done in order to have a final list of absentee voters who returned their ballots prior to 8 p.m. on November 3, 2020. In order to have enough time to process the absentee ballots, all satellites were instructed to collect the absentee ballots from the drop box once every hour on November 3, 2020.

On November 4, 2020, I was instructed to improperly predate the absentee ballots receive date that were not in the QVF as if they had been received on or before November 3, 2020. I was told to alter the information in the QVF to falsely show that the absentee ballots had been received in time to be valid. I estimate that this was done to thousands of ballots.

Among the other allegations in the lawsuit:

“Defendants instructed election workers to not verify signatures on absentee ballots, to backdate absentee ballots, and to process such ballots regardless of their validity.”

“After election officials announced the last absentee ballots had been received, another batch of unsecured and unsealed ballots, without envelopes, arrived in trays at the TCF Center. There were tens of thousands of these absentee ballots, and apparently every ballot was counted and attributed only to Democratic candidates.”

“Defendants instructed election workers to process ballots that appeared after the election deadline and to falsely report that those ballots had been received prior to November 3, 2020 deadline.”

“On a daily basis leading up to the election, City of Detroit election workers and employees coached voters to vote for Joe Biden and the Democrat party. These workers and employees encouraged voters to do a straight Democrat ballot. These election workers and employees went over to the voting booths with voters in order to watch them vote and coach them for whom to vote.”

According to Detroit News, city officials said no ballots arrived after Election Day that were entered into the system. They said that some absentee ballots were entered at the counting board because some clerks forgot to enter information before.

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