Judge orders Michigan GOP Chairperson Karamo, others to pay for legal fees from failed absentee voting lawsuit

A judge this week paid Michigan Republican Commissioner Christina Karamo and others more than $58,000 in legal fees incurred by the Detroit Clerk’s office to contest a lawsuit filed against the city of Detroit’s absentee ballot. ordered.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny said in an order signed Monday that the Oct. 26 lawsuit, in which Karamo was the lead plaintiff, was “filled with speculation, lack of facts, and a lack of evidence to support the Michigan election.” “Lack of understanding of the law and Detroit’s absentee voting procedures.” . “

At the time, Karamo was the Republican nominee for secretary of state, the head of election administration in Michigan. Two weeks after filing the lawsuit, Caramo lost to Democrat Jocelyn Benson by 14 points before being elected state Republican chairman in February.

“Plaintiffs simply dismissed the allegation of ‘corruption in Detroit’ as the reason for Michigan’s largest city to disregard the Michigan Constitution,” Kenny wrote in the order. He ordered the plaintiffs to pay $58,459 in legal costs incurred by the Detroit Secretariat.

An email request for comment was sent to Karamo and the State Republican Party on Tuesday.

Karamo and others sued for attempting to coerce Detroiters to vote in person or to go to the City Clerk’s Office to obtain an absentee ballot.

They filed lawsuits 13 days before the election, making various allegations about how Detroit election officials vetted absentee ballot signatures and monitored return boxes. The lawsuit also alleges that the city used an “unauthorized high-speed tally machine” to count votes.

Kenny dismissed the lawsuit the day before the Nov. 8 election.

“Despite plaintiffs’ claim to ‘shine a light in a dark place,’ they failed dramatically,” the judge said at the time. “Eight hours of evidence hearings revealed no evidence of election law violations.”