2020 election case resumes in Hillsdale
- Former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and her attorney Stefanie Lambert face multiple felony charges for alleged election malfeasance, including illicit transmission of voter data to an IT examiner and not turning over a voting machine for maintenance when ordered to do so by the Secretary of State’s office.
- The two women appeared in District Court in Hillsdale for a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
- IT expert Benjamin Cotton testified that he compared voter rolls from Adams Township provided by Scott with voter rolls obtained from the Secretary of State and found discrepancies.
- Defense attorney Dan Hartman says the discrepancies are evidence of a state conspiracy to manipulate the outcome of the 2020 election.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
We’re learning new developments in a criminal case about the 2020 election. I was in District Court Wednesday in Hillsdale, where both sides continued to make their case.
Former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and her personal attorney Stefanie Lambert are charged with multiple felonies in connection with allegedly transmitting voter data from the 2020 election to IT examiner Benjamin Cotton and failing to turn over a voting machine for preventive maintenance, fearing it would be altered.
“There was a prevailing federal duty to protect the records. And preventive maintenance would destroy it,” said defense attorney Dan Hartman, explaining his clients’ reluctance to turn over the machine.
“There is no court case in this entire country from any federal court that would support his position! Not one single case!” said prosecutor Richard Cunningham.
The machine was eventually seized by Michigan State Police in October of 2021.
The prosecution alleges Scott told Lambert to send voter data to Cotton for examination.
“The files were encrypted when you received them. True?” asked Hartman. Benjamin Cotton’s reply: “Yes.”
Cotton, who has been granted immunity in this case, has served as an investigator analyzing voting data in Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia. Cotton testified that voter data FOIA’d from the Secretary of State did not match the data sent to him by Scott.
Hartman seized on this as evidence of foul play:
“When you have the voter rolls, which the Cotton affidavit showed, that there were both deletions and additions of registered voters in the Secretary of State’s official qualified voter files obtained from them by a FOIA with a clear chain of custody, with 11.5% discrepancy in Adams Township, when you extrapolate that out across the state-wide — they injected 800,000 votes in Michigan.”
Cunningham was having none of it, objecting to Hartman’s line of questioning.
“What this is about is about probable cause as to whether the charged crimes — whether there’s probable cause to support the charged crimes,” said Cunningham. “Not all these crazy theories that they want to put forward in this and other courts.”
The preliminary examination has not yet concluded, and is expected to continue at a later date.
CHECK OUT OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THIS CASE HERE, HERE, AND HERE.
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