Michigan election official leans for audit, delay in certification of votes

One of two Republicans on the four-member Michigan Board of State Canvassers said Thursday he was leaning forward to request a postponement of the certification of the state’s election results until an official audit was completed .

“I think with all of the potential issues, if any of them are true, an audit is appropriate,” Norman Shinkle said in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. “I take it one step at a time, and if we can get more information, why not?”

Shinkle would have cited among his concerns a claim debunked since President TrumpDonald John Trump Manufacturers Association Calls on GSA to Begin Transition Process Biden Votes Close to 80 Million Brent Budowsky Wins The Hill 2020 Election Prediction Contest and its allies that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of voting machines, suppressed thousands of votes that had been cast in favor of the president.

“If Dominion was rigging the votes, that’s a serious problem,” he said. “If that’s true. I don’t know. I have to be convinced of that. That’s why auditing makes sense.”

Shinkle has come under scrutiny after his wife, Mary Shinkle, filed an affidavit supporting a federal lawsuit since the withdrawal from the Trump campaign.

“It’s almost a charge against marriage,” he told the Post. “My wife can do whatever she wants.”

Shinkle added that he was receiving calls from fellow Republicans trying to convince him not to certify the vote in Michigan, which the Associated Press and other media have projected as president-elect. Joe bidenJoe Biden Manufacturers Association Calls on GSA to Begin Transition Process As Biden’s Vote Tally Closes To 80 Million AOC, Progressive Dems Attack Corporate Greed In Healthcare Talks READ MORE would win.

AP projections showed Biden led Trump in the state by more than 155,000 votes on Thursday.

Shinkle told the Post Thursday that “my job is to try and do what it takes for the vote in Michigan,” adding that “the chances are probably he [Biden] will become president.

Despite Biden’s lead in Wolverine State, which has the widest electoral margin of in any state where Trump’s team disputes the results, Trump has stepped up his campaign in recent days to challenge the Michigan election results.

Monica Palmer, Wayne County, Michigan GOP Member, Exploration Board told the Post Trump called her Tuesday night after she and her Republican colleague William Hartmann initially refused to certify the election results.

The two eventually relented and certified the results, but on Wednesday Palmer and Hartmann sought to cancel their certification.

Palmer has denied feeling pressured by Trump to turn the tide after agreeing to certify the vote. She said the two had discussed the results in different states, but “we really haven’t discussed the details of the certification.”

Wayne County, a Democratic stronghold, is home to Detroit and voted an overwhelming majority for Biden.