Hundreds of 2020 absentee ballots found in Michigan storage unit

Nearly 300 absentee ballots from the 2020 election have been discovered in a storage unit in Michigan. The storage unit was being rented by a township employee in Thetford Township, Michigan.

Township Supervisor Rachel Stanke was given a tip last summer about missing absentee ballots being stored away. The supervisor alerted the Michigan Department of Attorney General and the secretary of state. It was then reported to local police who conducted a search of a storage unit last August.

Reports are just now coming out after Stanke submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act to the police department to learn what was discovered in its search. The request revealed that police found 289 absentee ballots in a storage unit rented by a township employee.

According to Stanke, the employee in possession of the ballots said she thought it was a box of old documents. Of the 289 found ballots, Stanke said about 75% of them were marked spoiled, which means new ones would have been sent out to voters.

According to the Straight Arrow News Media Miss tool, this story is being underreported by the media with few outlets actually reporting on the hundreds of discovered ballots. A majority of news outlets reporting on this story are right-leaning, while left-leaning outlets are lacking coverage.

In the local election of 2020, the township clerk won by a mere 19 votes. That outcome could have been different if the mail-in ballots discovered were properly sent out to voters. 

Katie Hicks, the candidate who lost the election for township clerk, responded to the news of the discovered ballots saying she can no longer trust the election process.

“I’m kind of happy that it’s coming out because the election is right around the corner again. And it concerns me that this will take place again for 2024,” Hicks said. 

In an ABC poll from earlier this year, Americans share the same sentiment. Only 20% of Americans say they are confident in the integrity of the country’s election system.

While the ballots discovered in this case wouldn’t have made an impact on the presidential election, the discovery is further impacting voter confidence in fair elections if ballots from 2020 are still being discovered.

The Michigan Department of Attorney General is currently reviewing whether any laws were broken in the absentee ballot discovery.