Drop Box Camera Catches Ballot Stuffing In Michigan Town

In the days leading up to the August 5 primary election in Hamtramck, Michigan, surveillance footage reportedly captured individuals allegedly stuffing the municipal ballot drop box with suspicious ballots.

An August 1 video shows two men in a car handling stacks of ballots and placing them into the drop box during daylight hours. Another video depicts a pickup truck arriving at the drop box after dark, where three individuals are seen. The driver exits the vehicle and attempts to cram stacks of ballots into the box, struggling due to its fullness.

Election integrity advocates have raised concerns about the practice of stuffing drop boxes, especially when there is no oversight. President Donald Trump announced plans to lead a movement aimed at eliminating mail-in ballots, which can be submitted via drop boxes. He also advocated for a return to paper ballots instead of voting machines.

Michigan election law stipulates that ballots can only be dropped off by the individual voter, a member of the voter’s immediate family, or someone residing in the voter’s home, making large quantities of ballots being submitted at once particularly suspicious.

Local news outlets reported that Abu Musa, an incumbent city council member seeking reelection, appeared to be present in both vehicles captured on video. However, the identities of the individuals involved have not been officially confirmed, and no charges have been filed as of yet.

Michigan State Police confirmed that the videos are part of an ongoing investigation into election fraud related to the residency of city council members in Hamtramck, as reported by WDIV TV’s Lauren Kostiuk. The Michigan State Police did not respond to inquiries from The Federalist regarding the investigation.

Musa received 1,129 votes, winning the primary with 13 percent of the total. Residency is a requirement for holding office as a city councilor. The Hamtramck Review reported that Musa’s wife and two daughters reside in another town, while Musa claims to live in a different home in Hamtramck and is not separated from his family.

Musa and fellow council member Mohammed Al-Somiri were implicated in a 2023 election fraud case but were not charged. Other council members, Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan, were charged last week with two felonies each: forging a signature on an absentee ballot application and forgery under Michigan’s election law, according to Michigan Public.

Investigative reports from Project Veritas indicated that officials in Hamtramck may be involved in ballot harvesting and coercing individuals for their ballots. The organization reached out to Musa and Hassan with an offer to connect them with blank ballots from immigrants unfamiliar with the voting process, which both men did not decline, indicating they were aware of how to ensure the ballots were counted.

Hamtramck, located in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, has a population of approximately 28,000 and became the first city in the U.S. to have an all-Muslim city council in 2015. The city has faced significant corruption issues, prompting local media to create timelines detailing recent governmental problems.

In a related case in Pennsylvania, three Muslim members of the Millbourne Council Board pleaded guilty to election fraud and received prison sentences for preparing fake ballots and submitting them into a drop box. Similar allegations surfaced in Wisconsin, where hundreds of ballots were reportedly stuffed into a drop box.

Voting in person is often cited as a straightforward solution to mitigate election fraud. Surveillance cameras have proven ineffective as a deterrent to cheating, and the presence of unmanned drop boxes can facilitate corrupt practices, allowing individuals to cast multiple votes using fraudulent ballots. Advocates for election integrity argue that the U.S. successfully conducted elections without drop boxes and mail-in voting prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they call for a return to more secure voting methods.