ASTORIA, NEW YORK (WKZO AM/FM) It’s weird.
Somebody known only as “Emily”, with a mysterious operation called the United Impact Group, working out of an Astoria, New York post office box has asked for a copy of every ballot used in Michigan during the 2016 Presidential Election.
As far as anyone can tell, they have sent a freedom of information act request to most, if not every clerk in Michigan.
MIRS News reports the numbers involved are huge.
There are over 1,500 city and township clerks in Michigan.
It would take each of them weeks at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars apiece to carry out such an effort.
The requests are very specific, not just for the ballots that were cast, but also for absentee ballots and the envelopes they came in.
They also want spoiled ballots, rejected ballots and ballots that weren’t counted with explanations why.
Oshtemo Township Clerk Dusty Farmer says they are estimating it would cost them $7,000 for a digital response and a few thousand more than that for actual copies. It would tie up their copy room for 12 weeks.
They have notified Emily that if she wants to proceed, they will need at least half the money up front. They will want them to fill out a proper application and a questionaire with more specific details of what they want.
They responded Tuesday and have not heard back.
She says they did an estimate of what it would cost for every clerk to respond at 10-cents a copy and the total would be about $700,000.
Many clerks say they will need more than just Emily’s first name before they embark on such a big job at a time when they are preparing for the fall election.
The other question is why? What do they plan to do, hold their own recount?
The election results are way past any kind of legal challenge, and such a group would have no standing in court.
Right now it’s all a very big mystery. Its also dominated a message board that clerks use to communicate with each other. Many are consulting with their in house lawyers.
One theory is it may be Boris and Natasha trying to throw a wrench into the election process. Clerk Farmer says it would be about the only thing it would really accomplish because only certifiied election workers are authorized to go near those ballots, and right now they are all working on the November election. The actual data itself won’t change a thing.
