William Hartmann, Michigan Republican Who Refused To Certify Election, Shared Unfounded Fraud Claims Online
Michigan Republican official William Hartmann, who refused to certify the election results in populous Wayne County on Tuesday, has reportedly taken to social media to share claims that the race was stolen from Donald Trump.
As the Detroit Free Press reported, two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers voted against certifying the results of the November voting. The area is home to Detroit and covers a region that went heavily for Joe Biden, the report noted. The unofficial numbers showed that the Democratic candidate received 587,074 votes — or 67.99 percent of all those that were cast. Trump notched 264,149 votes, good for 30.59 percent.
Monica Palmer, the chair of the committee, said she believes “we do not have complete and accurate information on those poll books.” Some have suggested that the vote against certification was coordinated with state GOP leadership, and the Detroit Free Press pointed out that the Michigan Republican Party released a statement within minutes of the vote applauding the move.
“I am proud that, due to the efforts of the Michigan Republican Party, the Republican National Committee and the Trump Campaign, enough evidence of irregularities and potential voter fraud was uncovered resulting in the Wayne County Board of Canvassers refusing to certify their election results,” chair Laura Cox said in a statement.
As Vox reporter Andrew Prokop pointed out on Twitter, Hartmann appeared to be a strong backer of Trump, retweeting his unfounded allegations of fraud. He showed that Hartmann had shared a tweet from Trump in April claiming that mail-in ballots were “RIPE for FRAUD.”
Others noted that Hartmann had shared similar allegations on Facebook.
This appears to be the Twitter account for one of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers Republican members who voted not to certify. A Gateway Pundit fan who has RTed a Trump tweet claiming mail ballot fraud https://t.co/ddTBziYuvo pic.twitter.com/XJbqQMQp4I
— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) November 17, 2020
Trump has come under fire for making a series of claims that the race was stolen from him — allegations that critics say lack any evidence to back them up. His campaign has pursued a series of court cases aimed at challenging the counts and claiming that Republican poll watchers were denied the chance to view the counting taking place. However, they have been dealt a series of losses as judges have dismissed the claims. He has refused to concede, repeatedly claiming that he won the race.
Michigan emerged as a key battleground in 2020, with both candidates spending a considerable amount of time and resources there. Biden ultimately flipped the state, which Trump had turned red in 2016 for the first time in decades. Biden was able to win a number of key Rust Belt states that Trump turned red four years ago, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Among these states, the Democratic candidate’s margin was largest in Michigan, where he won by 146,000 votes in the unofficial count.
