King v. Whitmer
CIVIL 20-13134 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 25, 2021)
in their pleadings and Motion for Injunctive
Relief, counsel emphatically argued that “[t]he
witness is setting forth exactly what he observed
and [the] information that he bases it on.... He saw
these plastic bags .... It is a true affidavit.” (ECF
No. 157 at Pg ID 5488-89.) The Court accepts that
the affidavit is true in that Ciantar memorialized
what he saw at the time. But the Court cannot find
it reasonable to assert, as Plaintiffs' attorneys do,
that this “shows fraud.” (Id. at Pg ID 5489.)
Absolutely nothing about this affidavit supports
the allegation that ballots were delivered to the
TCF Center after the Election Day deadline. And
even if the Court entertained the assertion of
Plaintiffs' counsel that this affidavit “is one piece
of a pattern” reflecting fraud or Defendants'
violations of Michigan election laws (id.), this
would be a picture with many holes. This is
because a document containing the lengthy
musings of one dog-walker after encountering a
“smiling, laughing” couple delivering bags of
unidentified items in no way serves as evidence
that state laws were violated or that fraud
occurred.
During the hearing, Plaintiffs' counsel further
asserted that “we don't typically rewrite what an
affiant says.” (Id. at Pg ID 5490.) That is good.
But, pursuant to their duties as officers of the
court, attorneys typically do not offer factual
allegations that have no hope of passing as
evidentiary support at any stage of the litigation.
To support the allegation that Defendants
“fraudulently add[ed] tens of thousands of new
ballots . . . to the [Qualified Voter File] . . . on
November 4, 2020, all or nearly all of which were
votes for Joe Biden, ”54 Plaintiffs quote the
affidavit of Melissa Carone (“Carone Affidavit”),
55
which describes “facts” that demonstrate no
misconduct or malfeasance, and amount to no
more than strained and disjointed innuendo of
something sinister:
54 (ECF No. 6 at Pg. ID 942 ¶ 190(a) (citing
IIB).)
55 Plaintiffs also reference the affidavit of
Andrew Sitto (“Sitto Affidavit”) and
Robert Cushman (“Cushman Affidavit”) to
support this allegation. (ECF No. 6 at Pg
ID 905-06 ¶¶ 100-03.) But as Judge Kenny
concluded in Costantino, Sitto's affidavit is
“rife with speculation and guess-work
about sinister motives” and he “knew little
about the process of the absentee voter
counting board activity.” (ECF No. 31-15
at Pg ID 2443.) Indeed, the evidentiary
value of the Sitto Affidavit is questionable
at best. And while the Court does not
discuss the Cushman Affidavit in this
Opinion and Order, the Court notes that
Plaintiffs describe the Carone Affidavit as
“the most probative evidence” of the
factual allegation at bar. (ECF No. 6 at Pg
ID 899 ¶ 84.)
There was [sic] two vans that pulled into
the garage of the counting room, one on
day shift and one on night shift. These
vans were apparently bringing food into
the building .... I never saw any food
coming out of these vans, coincidently it
was announced on the news that Michigan
had discovered over 100, 000 more
ballots-not even two hours after the last
van left.56
The Amended Complaint calls this an “illegal vote
dump.” (ECF No. 6 at Pg ID 900 ¶ 84.)
56 (See IIB - “Election Workers Fraudulently
Forged, Added, Removed or Otherwise
Altered Information on Ballots, Qualified
Voter List and Other Voting Records, ”
Subsection
1
-
“Election
Workers
Fraudulently Added ‘Tens of Thousands' of
New Ballots and New Voters in the Early
Morning and Evening of November 4, ”
ECF No. 6 at Pg ID 899-900 I 84 (quoting
Carone Affidavit, ECF No. 6-5 at Pg ID
1306 I 8).)
56 (See IIB - “Election Workers Fraudulently
Forged, Added, Removed or Otherwise
Altered Information on Ballots, Qualified
31
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