7 people face felony charges in double voting incident in St. Clair Shores
(CBS DETROIT) - Seven people, including four voters, face felony charges in an alleged double voting incident in Michigan's August 2024 primary election, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday morning.
The incident involves four St. Clair Shores residents flagged for submitting two ballots in the primary election on Aug. 6. According to Nessel, each person voted by absentee ballot, returned their ballot and then voted in person at their polling location on election day. In three of the four cases, voters signed an affidavit saying they had not received an absentee ballot despite completing and returning one, Nessel said. Election workers informed the voters that their absentee ballots had already been received but were allegedly instructed by assistant clerks to override the system and issue in-person ballots.
St. Clair Shores residents Frank Prezzato, 68, Stacy Kramer, 56, Douglas Kempkins, Jr., 44, and Geneva O'Day, 62, each face one count of voting absentee and in-person, a five-year felony, and one count of offering to vote more than once, a four-year felony.
Nessel is also charging assistant St. Clair Shores clerks Patricia Guciardo, 73, and Emily McClintock, 42, with one count of falsifying election returns or records, a five-year felony, one count of voting absentee and in person, and one count of offering to vote more than once. Assistant Clerk Molly Brasure, 31, is charged with two counts of falsifying election returns or records and two counts of voting absentee and in person, and one count of offering to vote more than once.
Nessel says these incidents of double voting are very rare, especially in a single municipality.
"Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare. There are procedures in place to ensure this does not happen and that is why it so rarely does. It took a confluence of events and decisions to allow these four people to double vote," Nessel said. "Nevertheless, the fact that four incidents occurred in a municipality of this size raised significant concerns and is simply unheard of."
Shortly after the primary election in August, Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini and the St. Clair Shores Clerk's Office notified the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office that four people may have double-voted during the election.
In August, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido declined to authorize charges against the four voters, saying an investigation showed that the "appropriate mechanisms functioned as intended to detect the issue," and that his office "concluded probable cause did not exist to believe that a crime had occurred."
Following Nessel's announcement, Lucido on Friday said, "I respect the Attorney General's jurisdiction and investigatory resources. It is not unusual for the Attorney General to charge criminal cases in which a local prosecutor did not. I expect justice will be served. I have no further comment on this on-going case."
Nessel's investigation included reviewing voting records, police reports from St. Clair Shores police and a report from the Michigan Department of State Enforcement Division, as well as interviews with elections inspectors for those precincts, the charged St. Clair Shores assistant clerks, the St. Clair Shores city clerk and the state's director of elections. The investigation also included analyzing the Qualified Voter File for timestamped changes.
"My office has been committed to pursuing, investigating and, when necessary, charging, cases of election fraud, and have done so when the evidence provides for criminal charges," said Nessel. "Election integrity matters, and we must take these violations seriously in order to ensure we can trust the results on the other end."
The defendants were charged in 40th District Court in St. Clair Shores. An arraignment date has not been set.
"The City of Saint Clair Shores was surprised to learn this morning that Attorney General Dana Nessel would be pursuing charges against four residents and three part-time election workers in spite of local and county conclusions," the city said in a statement. "It is our hope that an accurate accounting of the facts of this case are properly presented in court as we feel they will correct the public misstatements and discrepancies in AG Nessel's press conference."
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson released the following statement on the charges:
"Voting more than once is illegal. Anyone who tries to vote multiple times in an election will get caught and they will be charged.
"We will watch closely to see how the facts bear out in this case. But anyone who thinks they can get away with voting fraud in Michigan should know we will not tolerate any attempt to interfere in our elections.
"I am grateful for the bipartisan, professional election administrators all across Michigan who work hard daily to ensure we count every valid vote, and only valid votes. Our team will continue to work alongside them to prepare for November."