Four Michiganders Charged After Allegedly Voting Twice

Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Friday that her office filed felony charges against four Michigan residents who allegedly double-voted and three assistant clerks who allegedly facilitated the illegal voting.

Four St. Clair Shores voters (Frank Prezzato, Stacy Kramer, Douglas Kempkins Jr., and Geneva O’Day) face one felony count of double-voting and one count of “Offering to Vote More than Once” after allegedly casting a vote both in person and via absentee, according to Nessel’s office.

Two St. Clair Shores assistant clerks, Patricia Guciardo and Emily McClintock, were “each charged with one count of Falsifying Election Returns or one count of Offering to Vote more than Once,” while a third clerk, Molly Brasure, “faces two counts of Falsifying Election Returns or Records and two counts each of Voting Absentee and in Person, and Offering to Vote more than Once,” according to Nessel’s office.

The four voters allegedly attempted to vote in person during the August primary election but were “informed by local poll volunteers that their absentee ballots had already been received,” Nessel’s office said, adding that the Electronic Poll Book also showed that the four had each cast an absentee ballot. But Guciardo, McClintock, and Brasure allegedly told the election workers to “override the system warnings and issue in-person ballots,” according to Nessel’s office. Guciardo, McClintock, and Brasure allegedly took steps to mark the “previously issued, voted, and returned absentee ballots as rejected, rather than received.”

The voters were permitted to vote in person and each cast a ballot. Nessel’s office says both the in-person and absentee ballots were counted, “resulting in double votes.”

The alleged fraud was discovered after St. Clair Shores Clerk Abrial Barret brought the double-voting to the attention of the Macomb County clerk, the police department, and the state bureau of elections. In August the Macomb County prosecutor decided not to pursue criminal charges, but Nessel’s office says its “investigation produced probable cause to file charges.”

Nessel said the incident “raised significant concerns and is simply unheard of.”

“Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare,” Nessel said. “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.”

Nationwide, the issue of double-voting isn’t a new phenomenon. The Wisconsin Elections Commission was alerted to 30 instances of potential voter fraud by local clerks between July 1, 2023, and Sept. 12, according to The Associated Press. Of the 30 referrals, 18 include voters allegedly voting twice, using one absentee in-person ballot and one absentee mail-in ballot. Seven of the instances allegedly occurred in Milwaukee County during the 2024 spring election and eight during the 2023 spring election, according to the report. Other instances of alleged double-voting were reported in Kenosha and Douglas counties.

The state also received reports of felons registering to vote.

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