After 73-year-old Robert Froman, a Kalamazoo County elections canvasser, told The Detroit News he would not certify the 2024 election if he saw problems reminiscent of what occurred in 2020, the Michigan chapter of the left-wing legal powerhouse ACLU dragged him to court.
“If I saw cheating that I could challenge legally as a canvasser, I would,” Froman explained to The Federalist. “It was not a blanket statement that I was going to not certify the election.”
County canvassers are tasked with reviewing and signing off on the results of each election. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, “The canvass enables an election official to resolve discrepancies, correct errors, and take any remedial actions necessary to ensure completeness and accuracy before certifying the election.” But since 2020, leftists have launched a pressure campaign to force canvassers to rubber-stamp election results rather than exercise meaningful oversight.
In Michigan, they successfully passed a law changing the state constitution to neutralize canvassers’ ability to investigate potential wrongdoing. Proposal 2, passed by voters in 2022, makes canvassers’ certification duties purely “ministerial, clerical, [and] nondiscretionary,” according to Ballotpedia — in other words, requiring them to sign off on results no matter what concerns they may believe are unresolved.
Armed with that law, ACLU Michigan sent Froman a letter threatening to sue him.
“The law does not authorize members of boards of canvassers to withhold certification based upon speculation, theories, or even evidence pertaining to the accuracy of the reported returns,” the letter,
