In Michigan, criminal charges and election denying no barrier to ballot victory
Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, who has investigated the 2020 election to prove claims it was stolen, easily won the Republican primary this week. He faces no contender in the general election. Photo courtesy of Chris duMond.
by Hayley Harding, Votebeat (for Bridge Michigan)
A self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriff,” a township clerk facing felony charges, and a county clerk candidate who wants to “hand count every ballot cast at the end of each voting day” sailed through their Republican primaries Tuesday, earning themselves spots on November’s ballot and likely victory.
The results are a sign that many local voters in more conservative areas of Michigan don’t consider it disqualifying for local elected officials to spread conspiracy theories or interfere with elections to advance the narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump.
In Barry County, north of Kalamazoo, incumbent Sheriff Dar Leaf handily beat three GOP challengers. In Macomb County, Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot did the same. Victoria Bishop, a clerk candidate in Antrim County, claimed victory in a five-way GOP race with about 37% of the vote.
In all three races, there is no Democratic opponent appearing on the fall ballot, so the three are all but sure to win their elections in November.
Leaf considers himself a “constitutional sheriff,” the term for law-enforcement officials who believe they hold the highest level of authority in their county, above even the governor. Leaf has gotten national attention for his efforts to investigate the 2020 election.
Others running as constitutional sheriff candidates across the state lost their primaries, Michigan Public found.
As Bridge Michigan reported in 2021, Leaf tried to seize voting machines in Barry County. He also had deputies question election clerks to try to prove the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
He was also named in an investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel over his involvement in an alleged scheme led by lawyer Matthew DePerno to get access to local election offices’ ballot tabulators and to break into them to conduct tests. The investigation led to charges against DePerno and attorney Stefanie Lambert Junttila.
Leaf was not charged with any associated crimes for his alleged actions.
Shelby Township’s Grot, however, faces charges for his role in the 2020 fake-elector scheme to replace Michigan’s electoral votes for Joe Biden with those for Trump. He was one of 16 people who were each charged with eight felony counts after they signed a false certificate claiming Trump had won Michigan.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Grot told The Detroit News after his win. “I’m just waiting for the court date to have my day in court, and the truth’s going to come out.”
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State’s Office has stripped Grot of his powers as clerk. And last year, the state Bureau of Elections sent Grot a letter that said his alleged involvement with the fake certificate “undermines voter confidence in the integrity of elections.”
Running elections is one of the primary duties of a clerk, but Grot told The News on Wednesday that he wasn’t concerned about what that meant for future elections.
In Antrim County, Bishop could be the next clerk — but current Clerk Sheryl Guy told Bridge Michigan last week that she might launch a write-in campaign. “I wouldn’t put Antrim County in that position of being stuck with somebody that might be crazy,” she said.
Antrim County, in northern Michigan, was caught in a swirl of conspiracy theories after the 2020 election because of an error in tabulator configuration that briefly caused initial election night results to show that Biden won the heavily Republican county. Guy oversaw that election, and the results were quickly corrected, but the county has remained a target of groups suspicious of the way elections are run.
Bishop’s main promise to voters, as stated on her yellow lawn signs, is to “restore election integrity in Antrim County.” For her, that includes hand-counting every ballot — a lengthy and often inaccurate process — and cleaning up the county’s voter rolls by removing voters who have died or moved away.
Bishop and her husband, a radio host often referred to as “Trucker Randy,” have helped to spread election conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen.
Those false claims have now been repeatedly debunked, but when reached Thursday, Randy Bishop — who identified himself as the candidate’s campaign manager — said they weren’t theories at all. He insisted he had evidence that proved deeper wrongdoing in the 2020 election. He declined to share it, instead saying he would offer it to anyone in Antrim County who wanted it.
In the races monitored by Votebeat, only one candidate lost their election after spreading election conspiracy theories: Stephanie Scott, the former Adams Township clerk who was ousted in a recall election, lost her Republican primary for Hillsdale County clerk.
Scott is facing several felony charges related to unauthorized computer access, misconduct in office, and concealing or withholding a voting machine. She’s also facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly disobeying instructions from election officials. Her attorney, Lambert Junttila, faces similar charges in the Adams Township case.
Scott did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Votebeat. In June, Scott’s new attorney, Dan Hartman, moved to drop the felony charges against Scott and Lambert Junttila. The judge ultimately denied the motion to dismiss. Scott’s next hearing is scheduled for September.
This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. Votebeat will make this article available for reprint under the terms of its republishing policy.
Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org.
This article is being republished through a syndication agreement with Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan is Michigan’s largest nonprofit news service and one of the nation’s leading and largest nonprofit civic news providers. Their coverage is nonpartisan, fact-based, and data-driven. Find them online at https://www.bridgemi.com/.
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