Michigan State Police launched a criminal investigation on Thursday after election equipment went missing in Hillsdale County, a rural conservative southwest Michigan county that went for Trump in 2020 with 72% of the vote.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections removed Township Clerk Stephanie Scott from her duties on Monday for failure to comply with election authorities to perform required maintenance, sign off on accuracy testing of equipment, and failure to confirm she would use certified voting equipment.
The State tasked the County Clerk with performing Scott’s duties in next week’s election. When the county officials attempted to retrieve the township tabulator, they found the tablet, described as the “brains” of the voting machine, missing. The county contacted Scott asking her to return the tablet, but Scott responded that she was in contact with an attorney.
The day after her removal, Scott said she was concerned about the accuracy of the tabulator and feared maintenance or servicing could wipe old data, echoing unfounded claims that voting machines may have been rigged against the former guy. She accused the State of “tyranny.”
“The county clerk’s office and now Secretary of State are demanding I drop off my machine for unfettered access, and God only knows doing what to it,” Scott told a reporter earlier this week. “When you have the fox guarding the hen house, somebody’s got to stand up and guard those hens.”
The first term clerk appeared to have deleted posts this week from her Facebook account that included QAnon references concerning liberal pedophilia and several that include the conspiracy theories’ rallying cry “WWG1WGA,” or “where we go one we go all.”
BridgeMI and Detroit News
