Four people intentionally voted twice in Michigan's summer primary election, the state attorney general said Friday as she announced felony charges against the suburban Detroit residents as well as public employees accused of enabling it to happen.
“It's shocking and simply unheard of,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
The charges in St. Clair Shores come a month before the general election in a high-stakes state coveted by presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and where voter turnout is expected to be high.
“What occurred here cannot be allowed to be repeated in November,” Nessel said. “As to election workers, it is imperative that all election staff, volunteers and assistant clerks abide by the laws of this state.”
She said four people who had already cast absentee ballots for the Aug. 6 primary showed up to vote in St. Clair Shores on that day. It's not legal, Nessel added, to cancel an already-processed absentee ballot on Election Day and then vote in-person.
An electronic poll book showed that the four had already voted. But after poll workers consulted with local election staff, they were still allowed to vote again, Nessel said.
The extra votes did not affect race results, she said.
Four voters were charged with voting twice. Three people described as assistant clerks in St. Clair Shores were charged with falsifying election records.
Nessel said the motives of the seven were unknown. There's no evidence that they were working together.
The state stepped in after Pete Lucido, the Republican local prosecutor in Macomb County, said there was “no malicious or criminal intent” and declined to file charges.
Nessel, a Democrat, suggested Lucido didn't have expertise.
“There are so many different procedures that are involved here," she said. “I think if you're not highly familiar with this, the way that our staff has become, it's easy to make mistakes.”
