LANSING, Mich. — An "unpermitted individual" was allowed to access a voting tabulator in a west Michigan township, spurring an ongoing investigation by the State Police, according to an email obtained by The Detroit News through an open records request.
The message was sent by Irving Township Supervisor Jamie Knight to members of the Barry County township's board on May 4, five days after the State Police and the Attorney General’s office used a search warrant to seize a tabulator there.
"We understand that this is part of a larger investigation; however, the issue specific to Irving Township appears to be that an unpermitted individual was previously allowed access to a voting tabulator," Knight wrote in the message.
The email didn't identify who gave the unnamed individual access to the tabulator.
Knight wrote that the township's attorneys requested board members "cooperate fully" if contacted by the State Police or Attorney General Dana Nessel's office.
"At this time, the attorneys believe it would be in the best interest of the township not to make any further statements to the press," her email continued. "However, if you choose to make a statement to the press, you should 1) be sure not to release any privileged information and 2) reiterate that you are only speaking for yourself and not the behalf of the township."
Authorities have said little about what prompted them to expand a probe into allegations of unauthorized access to tabulation machines that began in northern Michigan's Roscommon County in February.
"This alleged unauthorized access did not, in any way, affect the 2020 election," Lt. Derrick Carroll, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police, said in a statement last week.
Multiple Irving Township trustees didn't immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment. The township has about 3,700 residents, according to the U.S. Census.
The investigation unfolds as Michigan's November 2020 election continues, 18 months later, to face scrutiny from former President Donald Trump's supporters.
Trump lost the battleground state to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points, but the former president has maintained unproven claims that fraud cost him the race. Many of the allegations have focused on voting machines and conspiracy theories that the technology could be hacked or somehow alter votes.
However, Michigan uses paper ballots, which were available for recounts, as an investigation by the GOP-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee noted in June 2021.
"Where this was done, no evidence of hacking or attack was ever shown," the committee's report said. "Nor did any official representative of the losing party call for a hand recount in any precinct so to prove an instance of such."
The Senate's report, more than 200 audits and a series of court rulings have all upheld Michigan's November 2020 presidential election result.
In February, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson asked the attorney general's office and the Michigan State Police to investigate reports that an "unnamed third party" was granted access to voting technology in Roscommon County's Richfield Township.
Such access could require the equipment to be replaced at taxpayer expense, the secretary of state's office said.
At the time, Benson, a Democrat and the state's top election official, sent a letter to clerks across the state, saying Michigan law was "clear that unauthorized third parties may not have access to election technology and data."
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