The Republican National Committee (RNC) has filed a lawsuit against the Election Commission of the City of Detroit, accusing it of significantly favoring Democratic poll workers over Republican ones for the 2024 election, in violation of Michigan state law.
According to Fox News, Michigan’s election law, specifically Section 168.74, mandates that the board of election commissioners “shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.”
The lawsuit claims that for Detroit’s 2024 primary election, around 2,300 Democratic poll workers were hired, compared to only 300 Republican poll workers. This discrepancy was highlighted in a Detroit Election Commission Report cited in the lawsuit.
The RNC, along with the Michigan GOP and Wayne County Republican committee chairs, filed the lawsuit on Thursday. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump stated, “Detroit’s failure to hire Republican poll workers is the kind of bad-faith Democrat interference that drives down faith in elections.”
The lawsuit also asserts that the city violated Section 674(2) of the state’s election law, which requires the appointment of “at least 1 election inspector from each major political party” in every precinct. It claims that 200 of Detroit’s 335 precincts lacked a Republican election inspector.
Whatley and Trump emphasized, “The RNC is bringing this suit to address this completely unacceptable breach of public trust. 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.”