RNC Sues Flint, Michigan For Stacking Polls With Democrat Workers Ahead Of Key Midterm Election

The Republican National Committee has filed a lawsuit against the city of Flint, Michigan, for failing to hire an equal number of poll workers from each of the two major political parties in preparation for the midterm elections.

Michigan law requires election officials appoint an equal number “of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.” Despite a demand letter from the RNC, Flint has failed to comply with state statutes. Roughly only 120 of the 680 election inspectors hired in Flint for the 2022 midterms are Republican, the newly filed lawsuit alleges. While Flint recently told the RNC it hired 50 more Republican-affiliated poll watchers, it refused to further ensure equal party representation among election workers.

That means only 18 percent of Flint’s approximately 680 election inspectors are Republican. Not to mention that on the city’s absentee ballot counting boards, the lawsuit claims, there are only six Republicans to 56 Democrats — a 9 to 1 ratio.

“Michigan election law clearly states that election commissioners have a responsibility to hire an equal partisan breakdown of election inspectors, but Flint has hired hundreds more Democrats than Republicans,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and unfair to Michigan voters: Republicans are going to court to deliver the fairness that Michiganders deserve.”

The RNC’s lawsuit follows another election-related controversy in Flint.

After reports surfaced that city officials had disproportionately hired more Democrat than Republican poll watchers during Michigan’s Aug. 2 primary, attorneys for Pure Integrity Michigan Elections sent a letter to the city demanding it balance out the number of partisan poll watchers before the November general election. Flint’s longtime, controversy-riddled city clerk, Inez Brown, announced she was stepping down two days after receiving the letter.

Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.

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