A once-celebrated Michigan Democrat has been charged with six felony counts for allegedly altering absentee ballots during the 2018 midterm elections.
But remember: You are the paranoid conspiracist for thinking voter fraud is real.
Sherikia Hawkins, 38, is accused of using her position as city clerk for the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan, to alter as many as 193 absentee ballots, according to an affidavit highlighted by National Review’s Jack Crowe.
Hawkins, a registered Democrat, was arraigned Monday and charged with forgery of a public record and falsifying returns or records. She has been charged also with several counts of using a computer to commit a crime. Hawkins has been placed on paid administrative leave from her six-figure salary position pending the results of her trial.
“The alleged misconduct was discovered after the Oakland County Clerk’s Office noticed that 193 voter files had been changed to reflect that the voters failed to include a valid signature or return date, when all of the implicated voters had in fact included both items,” Crowe explains. “The county clerk’s office later discovered the original voter files in the trash at the election-division office. The Michigan State Police then launched an investigation that resulted in Hawkins’s arrest.”
The suspended city clerk was released on a $15,000 bond.
“Voting is fundamental to the very essence of our democracy,” Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said this week at a news conference. “It is incumbent upon state governments to safeguard the electoral process and ensure that every voter’s right to cast a ballot is protected.”
Nessel continued, stressing that Hawkins is the exception and not the norm.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, also a Democrat, has likewise sought this week to portray Hawkins’s alleged actions as out of the ordinary, telling a group of reporters that the allegations represent something very “rare” for the state.
That all may be true, but it is worth noting also that Detroit has something of a reputation now for allegations of electoral fraud and incompetence. Maybe it is all a coincidence. Then again, there are these felony charges against Hawkins. What are the odds this is really a one-off, a freak occurrence that just happens to play into additional allegations of voting irregularities in the greater Detroit metro area?
And to think: It was just a couple of months ago that the Michigan Democratic party honored Hawkins at its annual annual Legacy Dinner in Detroit, as Crowe helpfully notes. Before that, she was even listed in the Michigan Chronicle’s 2017 “40 under 40.”