DETROIT – The Justice Department is asking Wayne County to turn over every ballot from last November’s presidential election, and Michigan’s top Democrats say the request doesn’t make sense.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson all responded Sunday after the DOJ sent a letter to the Wayne County clerk.
In that letter, the DOJ demands all ballots, ballot receipts, and ballot envelopes from the 2024 election -- and it warns the county could face a court order if it doesn’t comply.
The Attorney General’s Office said the DOJ is pointing to three voter fraud cases from the 2020 election as the reason for the request, but the state calls it “baseless.”
Whitmer also pushed back, calling it an attempt to stir up doubt about Michigan elections and what she described as “federal interference.”
This came during the Michigan Democratic Party convention in Detroit, and less than 200 days out from the midterm election, when the state will pick a new governor and a new U.S. senator.
Here is a statement posted on X by Sen. Elissa Slotkin:
From the FBI raid in Fulton County, Georgia, to the federal intervention in Maricopa County, Arizona, the intimidation is always the point.
This request for 2024 ballots from Wayne County is based on discredited allegations from 2020, and it is just the latest attempt by President Trump to use federal law enforcement to cast doubt on our elections ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Our state has held free and fair elections for hundreds of years. We will not be intimidated.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin on X
Here is a statement from Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt:
For years, Democrat officials in Lansing have gaslit the public and fought tooth and nail against any basic measure of transparency in our elections.If Gretchen Whitmer and Dana Nessel truly believed the election processes in Wayne County were flawless, they would welcome this Justice Department review with open arms instead of hiding behind frantic legal threats. You don’t stonewall investigators and hide hundreds of thousands of ballots unless there is something you’re worried they will find.
This is exactly why I have continually urged the Department of Justice to establish full, rigorous federal oversight of Michigan’s 2026 elections. The people of Michigan deserve absolute, unshakable confidence that their votes are legally cast and accurately counted. The partisan machine running Detroit’s elections has shown it cannot be trusted to police itself. It’s time to pull back the curtain, secure the voter rolls, and ensure that the 2026 elections are free from the incompetence and shadowy practices that have plagued Wayne County for far too long.
Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt