A St. Clair Shores district court judge dismissed all charges against a city election worker and a voter after the Michigan Attorney General’s Office charged them and others in a double voting case in the August primary election.
Charges were dismissed against Molly Brasure, one of three election workers accused in the case, and Geneva O’Day, one of four voters accused in the matter, during a preliminary exam Friday in 40th District Court.
Brasure had been charged with two counts each of voting absentee and in-person; offering to vote more than once, and falsifying returns/records, according to online court records. O’Day had been charged with one count each of voting absentee and in-person and offering to vote more than once. All of the charges are felonies.
Brasure’s attorney, Stephen Rabaut, told the Free Press on Monday that he thinks “it’s a travesty the Attorney General’s Office is pursuing charges on any of these seven people. … It’s a total abuse of power by the Attorney General’s Office.”
A hand casting a vote in a ballot box for an election in Michigan.
Messages seeking comment were left for O’Day’s attorney and a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office.
A pretrial conference was held Monday for Stacey Kramer, an accused voter, in Macomb County Circuit Court, where a trial is set for July 29 before Judge James Maceroni. Kramer, Donald Kempkens Jr., and Frank Prezzato, also voters, are charged with one count each of voting absentee and in-person, and offering to vote more than once.
Rabaut is representing Kempkens, whose case was bound over to the Circuit Court. Rabaut filed a motion to quash with Circuit Judge Joseph Toia to issue a written opinion. A pretrial conference is scheduled for May 12, according to online court records.
Circuit Judge Anthony Servitto denied a motion to quash the bind-over filed by Prezzato’s attorney; and a pretrial conference is set for May 14 for Prezzato, according to online court records.
In December, all charges were dismissed against the other city election workers, Emily McClintock and Patricia Guciardo, during a preliminary examination in 40th District Court. The Attorney General’s Office filed appeals with the Circuit Court, where oral arguments are scheduled in April, according to online court records.
The voters committed election fraud when they sent in an absentee ballot and still voted in person at the polls, Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference announcing the charges in October. The election workers were accused of knowing of the voters’ absentee ballots — an electronic voter information tracking system informed them — and letting them vote anyway.
The AG’s Office identified the election workers as assistant clerks, but St. Clair Shores Mayor Kip Walby previously told the Free Press they were seasonal workers, not assistant clerks.
The charges by the Attorney General’s Office were filed after County Prosecutor Peter Lucido declined to charge the voters, stating in an August news release that a review of the evidence concluded probable cause did not exist to believe a crime occurred. The alleged election fraud occurred at three different voting precincts.
An electronic poll book at each precinct shows whether voters have already cast a ballot. In the case of the four voters, the system indicated their ballots were already received by the local clerk, Nessel previously said.
She said volunteer poll workers informed the three assistant clerks and were instructed to override the system and issue in-person ballots. She said the assistant clerks then illegally changed the status of the four voters’ absentee ballots in the electronic poll book from “received” to “rejected.”
The voters cast their in-person ballots, which still were counted alongside their absentee ballots. The election workers were accused of not making any effort to ensure the corresponding ballot was rejected from the absentee voter counting board.
Contact Christina Hall: [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Charges against election worker, voter dismissed in double voting case
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