Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Friday charged four St. Clair Shores residents for double voting in the August 2024 primary election. Three assistant clerks also face felonies for altering the ballots as rejected rather than received. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI |
License PhotoOct. 4 (UPI) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Friday charged four St. Clair Shores residents for double voting in the August 2024 primary election. Three assistant clerks also face felonies for altering the ballots as rejected rather than received.
“My office has been committed to pursuing, investigating and, when necessary, charging, cases of election fraud, and have done so when the evidence provides for criminal charges,” said Nessel in a statement. “Election integrity matters, and we must take these violations seriously in order to ensure we can trust the results on the other end.”
Nessel got involved when the Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido declined to file charges in the case.
Lucido had said the voters wanted to spoil their absentee ballots and vote in person and also said voters can legally do that, but Nessel said he was factually inaccurate and legally incorrect.
Nessel said, “Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare. There are procedures in place to ensure this does not happen and that is why it so rarely does. It took a confluence of events and decisions to allow these four people to double vote.”
Charged were Frank Prezzato, 68, Stacey Kramer, 56, Douglas Kempkins Jr., 44, and Geneva O’Day, 62 — all of St. Clair Shores.
Each face one count of Voting Absentee and In-Person, a maximum penalty 5-year felony, and one count of Offering to Vote More than Once, a maximum penalty 4-year felony.
Assistant clerks Patricia Guciardo, 73, and Emily McClintock, 42, are each charged with one count of Falsifying Election Returns or Records, a maximum penalty 5-year felony, one count of Voting Absentee and in Person, and one count of Offering to Vote more than Once.
Assistant clerk Molly Brasure, 31, is charged with two counts of Falsifying Election Returns or Records and two counts each of Voting Absentee and in Person, and Offering to Vote more than Once.
Nessel’s office said in a statement that Prezzato, Kramer, Kempkins, and O’Day went to a polling location in person but were told their absentee ballots had already been received.
But Guciardo, McClintock, and Brasure allegedly instructed election workers to ignore warnings in the Electronic Poll Book and override those warning to allow the four to vote in person, too.
As a result, both the in-person votes and the absentee ballots for the four people were counted.
The clerks were charged for their roles in allegedly illegally altering the State Qualified Voter File.
