A citizen-led investigation of Detroit’s 2020 election records has uncovered that 12.4% of absentee ballots from taxpayer-subsidized housing addresses were processed without the official return envelopes required by Michigan law—a violation that raises serious questions about election integrity and legal compliance.
Massive Document Review Uncovers Legal Violations
Over 100 volunteers are examining nearly one million documents from Detroit and Wayne County’s November 2020 election. The records, which a judge ordered Detroit to release after repeated denials of Freedom of Information Act requests, reveal systematic irregularities. New Jersey resident Yehuda Miller, Check My Vote founder Phani Mantravadi, and investigative journalist Patty McMurray lead the effort. The team has digitized and sequenced over 155,000 absentee ballot envelopes, meticulously flagging questionable or illegally accepted ballots that Detroit officials approved in 2020.
Michigan law MCL 168.764a mandates that every absentee ballot must be returned in the official state-issued return envelope containing the voter’s signature certificate. Election clerks lack discretion to waive this requirement or process ballots without proper envelopes. Knowingly processing absentee ballots that arrive without official return envelopes constitutes a serious violation of Michigan Election Law, raising questions about whether Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey knew ballots were being counted despite missing envelopes.
Phantom Addresses and Impossible Timelines
The investigation documented specific cases that defy explanation. One voter registered at 8286 Auburn Street in Detroit, an address confirmed as non-existent. This phantom voter received an absentee ballot for the 2020 election, with records showing the envelope arrived the day before the election. The registration has since been scrubbed from Michigan voter rolls. Another envelope displayed a German address on its mailing label, yet bore a signature dated October 30, 2020, while Detroit’s official stamp indicated receipt on October 3—a timeline impossibility.
Secretary of State Directed Relaxed Standards
In 2020, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent 7.7 million unsolicited voter applications to every eligible voter without proper approval, earning a judicial admonishment. She also directed local clerks to ignore signature verification requirements during Michigan’s largest mail-in election, when proper signatures and strict chain-of-custody protocols were essential for election integrity. Volunteers continue checking and rechecking their findings before releasing the full discrepancy between absentee ballots received and official envelopes submitted. The investigation represents one of the largest citizen-led election integrity efforts in American history.
I keep seeing more articles about fraudulent ballots and voting. Trump would have won in 2020. Democrats and Pence owe Trump an apology. But that would be admitting they were wrong, and that won’t happen.