Next GOP Wayne County canvasser says he would not have certified results of 2020 election – Detroit Free Press

Thenewest Republican tasked with certifying election results in Wayne County said he would not have certified the results of the 2020 presidential election and gave no assurance thathe would certify the results of future contests.

The appointment of new canvassers across Michigan comes at a time of growing concern that partisans at the local level could derail the election certification process.

Robert Boyd, 73, of Rockwood, will soon replace Wayne County Board of Canvassers' Republican chair Monica Palmer on the bipartisan panel responsible for certifying election results in Michigan's largest county. Asked about the 2020 election and what he would have done, Boyd said he would not have certified the results of theelection.

"I believe they were inaccurate," he said. Boyd said that he was told that "by people that knew what went on there." Asked to explain the basis for the claim, Boyd responded: "I dont know, I wasnt there, you know? Its hard to second guess that kind of stuff until youre there, thats one reason I wanted to be on the committee."

He criticized Palmer andWilliam Hartmann, the other Republican member of the board, for certifying the election results following an agreement struck with the two Democrats on the panel at the time to conduct an audit of the election.

Boydsaid that affidavits signed by poll challengers who worked at the TCF Center in Detroit cast a cloud over the legitimacy of the election. However, many of those challengers mistook standard processes for election fraud, and Michigan courts rejected lawsuits that relied on challengers' allegations of election fraud and misconduct.

Joe Biden won Michigan by over 154,000 votes and Wayne County by more than 332,000 votes. More than200 postelection audits, including a dozen audits in Wayne County, affirmed Biden's victory in the state and county. Acomprehensive state Senate report approved by GOP lawmakers found no evidence of widespread fraud and said voters in Michigan should have faith in the election outcome.

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Boyd declined to say whether he would certifythe results of the 2022 and 2024 elections."I can't make a judgment on it until I see," he said.

County commissionsarechargedwith selecting canvassers, but the Wayne County Commissiondeclinedto approvea Republican nominee for the position, so the decision fell to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett who selected Boyd after he was nominated by William Rauwerdink, whochairsthe Michigan 14th District Republican Committee.

Michigan's four-member county canvassing boards are made up of two Democrats and two Republicans. If there is a partisan deadlock to certify the results of an election, the Board of State Canvassers is tasked with reviewing and certifying the county's results.A partisan deadlock on the state board would likely lead to a legal challenge against the board, and it would fall to the courts to order the state panel to certify the results.

Boyd said his previous election experience includes working as a poll watcher and poll challenger in southwest Detroit, Dearborn and the Dearborn Heights areaduring the 2016 presidential election.

Boyd, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, declined to say whether he believes Trump's false claims that the election was stolen. "I'm sure he knows more about it than I do," he said.

Boyd said he supports a so-called forensic audit in Michigan. "We ought to do all we can do to find out all we can find out," he said. "People lose their faith in the voting system, then the country would be in great trouble."

Trump repeated false claims of election fraud, including claims about Michigan's election, ahead of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Boydsaid that Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa were "agitators" that day and said that "a lot of them caused the disruption."Following the insurrection, prominent Trump supporters levelled afalse conspiracy theory that Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa not Trump supporters bore responsibility for the violence.

Trump supporters went into the Capitolbuildingthat day, Boyd said. "At most,that's trespassing," he said. Boyd did not blame Trump supporters for breaking into the building, andsaid that the man wearing horns whoentered the Senate chamber was with antifa.

Boyd seemed to be referring toJake Angeli, known as the QAnon Shaman. Angeli, shirtless and wearing horns, took the dais of the Senate whereformer Vice President Mike Pence had presided moments before over the vote certification of the presidential election.

Angeli is one of hundreds of pro-Trump rioters facing criminal charges for their actions on Jan. 6.

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA.Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

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Next GOP Wayne County canvasser says he would not have certified results of 2020 election - Detroit Free Press