A letter sent to the city of Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday reveals how the city disproportionately hired more Democrats than Republicans as poll watchers in violation of state statute.
According to a demand letter filed by the attorneys of Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, Michigan law requires equal representation of Republican and Democrat poll workers at polling locations. During Michigan’s August 2 primary, however, Flint hired 422 Democrats compared to just 27 Republican poll watchers. Additionally, for Flint’s Absent Voter Counting Board, only 4 Republican inspectors were hired compared to 56 Democrat election inspectors.
This is in direct violation of Michigan state statute, which stipulates that “the board of election commissioners shall appoint at least [one] election inspector from each major political party and shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.”
Despite multiple attempts by GOP representatives urging Flint election administrators to hire qualified Republican poll watchers leading up to the August 2 primary, the city of Flint remained unresponsive to their requests.
“As you know,” the letter states, “for the last [six] months, the Republican Party has been presenting you with a list of 122 Republicans who want to serve as election inspectors to bring Flint into compliance with the legally-required party balance for election inspectors.”
The letter finishes by threatening litigation if Flint fails to balance its number of Democrat and Republican election inspectors. The city has seven days to respond to the letter and 63 days to hire 240 Republican poll watchers before the November general election.
Flint must “cease and desist spending taxpayer funds on its election inspector operations until the city comes into legal compliance,” the letter demands.
