RNC sues Detroit for allegedly hiring too few Republican poll workers

The Republican National Committee has filed a lawsuit against Detroit, Michigan, after the city allegedly failed to appoint enough Republican poll workers in accordance with state law.

Back in May, Paula Gnacke-Nemeth, then the chair of the Wayne 12th Congressional District, submitted to Detroit city clerk Janice Winfrey a list of 675 Republicans interested in serving as poll workers — sometimes referred to as election inspectors — in Detroit, the lawsuit filed last week said.

'Detroit’s failure to hire Republican poll workers is the kind of bad-faith Democrat interference that drives down faith in elections.'

A month later, members of the Election Commission released the names and party affiliations of all hired poll workers. Of the 675 names Gnacke-Nemeth submitted, just 52 had been appointed to serve for the state primary in August, the lawsuit claimed.

According to the Center Square, Detroit has more than 500 election precincts, but only 335 of them provided information about poll workers as required by law. Of those 335 precincts that complied with the law, at least 202 "did not have any Republican election inspectors," the RNC's lawsuit stated.

Michigan law also requires that city election officials hire an "equal number, as nearly as possible," of poll workers from the two major political parties.

The city allegedly hired some 250 additional Republicans, the RNC said, bringing the total to 310 Republican poll workers. However, the RNC also claimed that those 250 additional Republicans were not nominated by the party.

Meanwhile, the city appointed more than 2,300 Democrat poll workers, meaning that the ratio of Democrat poll workers to Republican was about 7:1, the RNC alleged.

Through the lawsuit, the RNC demands that Detroit hire more Republican election inspectors and "correct" the "imbalance" between the parties so as to "ensure that November’s election adheres to the legal requirements for balanced party representation," the RNC said in a press release.

"Detroit’s failure to hire Republican poll workers is the kind of bad-faith Democrat interference that drives down faith in elections. The RNC is bringing suit to remedy this completely unacceptable breach of public trust, and our unprecedented election integrity campaign will continue to fight in Michigan and nationwide to protect the rights of every voter to have fair, accurate, secure, and transparent elections," said a joint statement from RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump.

"Every single Michigander should have full confidence in the integrity of our elections and the security of their vote, and shady actions like refusing to hire an equal number of Republican poll workers has the opposite effect. This suit will help protect our right to free, fair, and transparent elections," said a statement from Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra.

The Detroit Free Press left messages for city clerk Winfrey; Mary Sheffield, who runs the Election Commission; and corporation counsel Conrad Mallett.

The office of Mayor Mike Duggan (D) said: "The Law Department is not commenting on this pending litigation."

The RNC previously sued the city of Flint for allegedly violating state election laws, but that suit was dismissed.

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