SHAMING RACISM:

The Republican chair of the committee, Monica Palmer, explained her rationale for the two nays, claiming the board of canvassers did "not have complete and accurate information on those poll books." Such a statement defied a recent state court rejection of a Republican lawsuit to block the certification of votes in Wayne County because of election fraud-- a ruling in which the judge said that the "plaintiffs' interpretation of events is incorrect and not credible." Nevertheless, the Michigan Republican Party released a statement from chair Laura Cox moments after the canvassers' decision, in which she said she was "proud" that "enough evidence of irregularities and potential voter fraud was uncovered resulting in the Wayne County Board of Canvassers refusing to certify their election results." (Even if there was evidence of irregularities, it would be all but impossible for Trump to win in a recount in a county where Biden won by over 37 points.)

While in the deadlock, Palmer went so far as to make a motion that would "certify the results in the communities other than the city of Detroit," an act that would disenfranchise voters in a city that is almost 79 percent Black. (The other Republican board member appears to have a history of posting racist memes of Obama.)

Ultimately, the pair stepped down from their brinkmanship. After a three-hour public Zoom call in which county residents lambasted the canvassing board -- "You will forever be known in southeast Michigan as two racists who did something so unprecedented that they disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Black voters in the city of Detroit," one local businessman said -- the board came back with a unanimous certification of the county's ballots.

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