A top law enforcement official in Michigan, one of the most important battleground states in the 2024 election, announced felony charges against seven residents of a predominantly Republican county on accusations of voter fraud, a new report shows.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is charging seven people in Macomb County with felonies in relation to alleged voter fraud in the Aug. 6, 2024 primary election, the Detroit News reported Friday.
Four people — 68 year-old Frank Prezzato, 56 year-old Stacy Kramer, 44 year-old Douglas Kempkins Jr. and 62 year-old Geneva O'Day — stand accused of "trying to vote a second time," according to the report.
The four reside in St. Clair Shores, and Nessel reportedly alleges each tried to vote with absentee ballots as well as in-person.
Three others have been charged: Two poll workers in St. Clair Shores — 73 year-old Patricia Guciardo and 42 year-old Emily McClintock — have each been charged with one count apiece of falsifying election records, in addition to other charges of voting more than once, according to the report.
Election worker Molly Brasure, 31, was charged with two counts of falsifying election records and two counts of voting on multiple occasions via absentee ballot and in-person, Detroit News reported.
READ MORE: GOP voter fraud prosecutions only yielded 47 convictions out of tens of millions of ballots: report
Nessel chose to file charges against the seven defendants despite Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido's decision not to do so, the report stated.
Lucido, a Republican, chose on Aug. 29 cited a police report that said there was "no malicious or criminal intent displayed by any of the voters, each claiming an honest mistake."
"The report indicated the individuals in question had tried to spoil their absentee ballots, believed they had spoiled their absentee ballots and then proceeded to cast a ballot in person," Lucido said at the time. He added that the defendants "did everything in their power to make sure that they only voted once" and that "the intent is critical on our part on whether we charge."
Nessel, a Democrat, disputed Lucido's account and suggested he was doing "insufficient" investigatory work, according to the Detroit News.
She criticized the Macomb County prosecutor for conducting "no additional investigation" beyond the initial police report.
State law doesn't allow a voter to simply spoil an absentee ballot on Election Day and then vote again in-person, Nesel reportedly said.
"Frankly, some of the statements [Lucido] made were just factually inaccurate and also legally incorrect," Nessel said.
READ MORE: Wife of Iowa Republican primary candidate convicted on 52 counts of voter fraud from 2020 election
The political affiliation of the defendants is unknown. However, Macomb County, which is a populous county on the eastern shore with Lake Huron, has been a Republican stronghold for the past eight years.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump carried Macomb County with 53.4% of the vote, defeating President Joe Biden there by more than 40,000 ballots. Trump won Macomb County by an even larger margin in 2016, beating Hillary Clinton by more than 48,000 ballots and garnering 53.6% of the vote.
