SN 7.10.2021

The Sun and News, Saturday, July 10, 2021/ Page 3

initially skewed results indi-

cating Biden had won the

heavily conservative region.

The error was fixed, and

the state eventually conduct-

ed a hand recount of ballots

that confirmed Trump domi-

nated the region despite los-

ing statewide to Biden by

154,188 votes.

The “forensic audit”

Keshel shared with Leaf and

Tucker was prepared by a

pro-Trump group called

Allied Security Operations

and has been widely criti-

cized by election experts.

It contained an “extraordi-

nary number of false, inaccu-

rate or unsubstantiated state-

ments and conclusions,”

according to University of

Michigan computer science

professor J. Alex Halderman.

Michigan Secretary of

State Jocelyn Benson and

Attorney General Dana

Nessel had already called the

report “another in a long

stream of misguided, vague

and dubious assertions

designed to erode public

confidence” in the election.

But Trump, like his allies,

was attempting to use the

Antrim County report to jus-

tify an unprecedented crimi-

nal investigation.

In a Dec. 14 email recently

released to Congress,

Trump’s attorney forwarded

the report to Acting Attorney

General Jeffrey Rosen with

the subject line: “From

POTUS.”

Flynn, Wood and Powell

are Trump loyalists who con-

tinue to claim the 2020 elec-

tion could still be overturned,

putting Trump back in the

White House.

Leaf told Bridge Michigan

he did not personally speak

with Flynn or Powell about

voting machines and did not

seize any, as his attorney had

suggested. The sheriff said

he asked some clerks to keep

voting machines “secure,”

which is “a normal protocol

for them anyway.”

‘Balanced to the ballot’

If Leaf had followed

through on his “highly parti-

san” plot to seize voting

machines, it may have been

illegal, Becker, with the

Center for Election

Innovation and Research,

said.

That’s because federal

law requires election offi-

cials to maintain exclusive

control over records and

equipment for 22 months.

“Every single person knew

the rules of the election

going into the election, and

to try to seize voting

machines in contravention of

federal law shows a funda-

mental disrespect for the rule

of law,” Becker said.

Trump won in Barry

County last fall, but seven

months after the presidential

election, Leaf told Bridge he

remains concerned about

what he called “reports”

questioning whether votes

may have been “flipped” or

“if we got hacked.”

Local clerks say there is

no evidence that happened in

a county where Trump won

65 percent of the vote, up

from 63 percent in 2016.

Instead, election officials

who spoke with Bridge said

local administration of the

election went smoothly, and

they never gave up posses-

sion of their voting machines

to Leaf or anyone else.

“I don’t know what Dar is

digging for,” Barry County

Clerk Pamela Palmer, a

Republican, said, adding that

there was no indication of

local vote manipulation last

year.

In Hastings, the 2020 elec-

tion “went great,” City Clerk

Jane Saurman said.

“We didn’t even really

have any issues with the

marker situation,” Saurman

said, referencing a debunked

Sharpie marker conspiracy

theory Leaf previously pro-

moted in a failed lawsuit.

In fact, clerks said giving

Leaf access to their voting

machines would have creat-

ed security risks and barred

the use of those tabulators in

future elections, which

would have created new and

additional costs for taxpay-

ers.

“We wouldn’t give ours up

without a court order or

something like that,” said

Yankee Springs Township

Clerk Mike Cunningham,

who won election in

November. “As far as I know,

[Leaf] had no contact with

our township office, and

state law requires that we

keep them secure.”

Barry County clerks did a

“stellar” job in the presiden-

tial election, but various

individuals and organiza-

tions urged him to investi-

gate, Leaf told Bridge,

declining to divulge the

source of those complaints.

“I’m not giving out any

names because of the death

threats and harassment that

people get,” he said.

Martin, the Lake County

sheriff, said he had not seen

any evidence of fraud in his

county, where Trump won

with 62 percent of the vote.

“I’ve never said that there

was any impropriety in the

election at all,” Martin said.

“So, it is what it is. I guess

we’ve moved forward.”

‘Hazy and nebulous’

claims

Leaf was active in other

ways as well.

In May 2020, Leaf

appeared on stage with

armed militia members at a

Grand Rapids rally protest-

ing Whitmer’s COVID-

response.

When two of those militia

members were later arrested

in an alleged plot to kidnap

Whitmer, Leaf questioned

whether the two were simply

trying to make a citizen’s

arrest.

And in December emails

first reported by The Detroit

News, Leaf told a Genesee

County resident there were

“a handful of violations that

could be used” to prosecute

Democratic Secretary of

State Jocelyn Benson for

election crimes.

Leaf also tried to use the

courts to seize election

equipment. He was the lead

plaintiff in a Dec. 7 law-

suit seeking an immediate

order to impound all voting

machines and software in

Michigan for “expert inspec-

tion.”

Among other allegations,

Leaf claimed in the suit that

Sharpie ballot markers used

in conjunction with

Dominion voting machines

“likely” impacted the accura-

cy of the election and said

his office “intends to conduct

a full investigation into

reports.”

U.S. District Court Judge

Robert Jonker, a Republican

nominee, dismissed the com-

plaint one day after it was

filed.

Leaf and his attorney in

that case, Stefanie Lambert

of Detroit, asked the judge to

make “speculative leaps

towards a hazy and nebulous

inference that there has been

numerous instances of elec-

tion fraud and that defen-

dants are destroying the evi-

dence,” Jonker wrote.

One week later, Leaf and

other sheriffs considered tak-

ing matters into their own

hands by seeking probable

cause warrants to seize

Dominion voting machines,

Tucker said in an email to the

Fight Back Foundation.

“Dar Leaf is point of con-

tact,” he wrote.

I-94 to Exit 104 | 11177 Michigan Avenue | Battle Creek, MI 49014

Must be 21 or older. Tickets based on availability. Schedule subject to change.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY: REMAIN SEATED

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

EARTH, WIND & FIRE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2

RANDY HOUSER

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16

THE HOTTEST

STARS

Tickets available now at the FireKeepers Box Office

or FireKeepersCasino.com.

JAKE

OWEN

SATURDAY,

AUGUST 21

FK-38369_7-5_MPA__AdEntBW_3.22x4.indd 1 6/28/21 4:25 PM

we have life insurance.

because, well, you

can’t predict the future.

simple human sense

DELTON • 269.623.

HASTINGS • 269.948.

bucklandinsurance.com

“Every single person knew the rules of the

election going into the election, and to try to

seize voting machines in contravention of

federal law shows a fundamental

disrespect for the rule of law.”

David Becker, executive director of the

Center for Election Innovation

and Research

Editor’s note:

Bridge Michigan obtained

hundreds of pages of emails

from Barry County Sheriff

Dar Leaf through the Freedom

of

Information Act as part of

its ongoing reporting on the

aftermath of the 2020 elec-

tion. This story by Jonathan

Oosting of Bridge Magazine

is supported by a grant from

the Fund for Investigative

Journalism.

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf was the headliner at the “American Patriot Rally” at

Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids in May 2020. (File photo)

QUESTIONS:

ASK US...

Hulst Cleaners Pick-Up Station

Sisters Fabrics

218 E. State St., Hastings • 945-

OPEN: Monday-Friday 8 am-5:30 pm;

Saturday 9 am-3 pm

Pray For Our Nation >

QUESTIONS:

ASK US...

Sisters Fabrics

218 E. State St., Hastings • 945-

OPEN: Monday-Thursday 8 am-5:30 pm;

Friday 8 am-7 pm; Saturday 9 am-5:30 pm

Annual July Sale

20% OFF

FABRICS

Excludes sale items. Ends 7-31-2021.

SHERIFF, continued from previous page