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The Michigan sheriff who appeared to publicly defend suspects involved in an alleged plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer has implicated the Democratic official, along with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, in a new election lawsuit filed Sunday.
Dar Leaf, the longtime sheriff of Michigan's Barry County, is the federal complaint's primary plaintiff. His suit presents vague, unsubstantiated claims of "potentially fraudulent" votes cast in Michigan during last month's presidential election and asks the court to grant him and other plaintiffs access to all voting machines used to tabulate ballots "for expert inspection."
To do that, the suit seeks to reverse a recent order from the Michigan Bureau of Elections to local clerks, which directs them to delete electronic polling data stored after Election Day. The instruction is standard practice in Michigan and aims to protect ballot secrecy. Benson specifically said the order did not apply to counties where scheduled ballot audits had not yet commenced or remained underway, in addition to those where previous orders from her office asked that data be preserved.
Leaf's lawsuit refers to the polling software as "evidence" of possible voter fraud and asks that it remain available "for forensic examination." It also suggests that county-level audits still taking place "will not reveal the systemic attempts at mass fraud throughout the State of Michigan and United States of America."
The Barry County sheriff's name previously surfaced in news headlines about one month before the election, when the FBI charged a group of men for their alleged roles in a scheme to kidnap Whitmer. During an interview with local outlet Fox 17 News, Leaf said he was familiar with the men charged and suggested they were attempting a "citizen's arrest" rather than kidnapping.
In Michigan, state law permits individuals to initiate arrests of their own accord if they witness someone committing a felony, or obtain information about that person indicating a felony was committed. Whitmer had not committed a felony, although the governor did face severe public backlash for implementing coronavirus restrictions.
"A lot of people are angry with the governor, and they want her arrested," Leaf told Fox 17 News in October. "So were they trying to arrest, or was it a kidnap attempt?"
Leaf's election lawsuit comes as Donald Trump's campaign continues to pursue legal actions across the U.S. aiming to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Trump's accusations that unlawful ballot-counting procedures skewed the election's outcome have not been substantiated, and numerous judges have dismissed his campaign's claims.
Michigan certified its election results for Biden about three weeks after polls closed on November 3, but certain counties conducted additional audits following the statewide certification.
"This standard procedure examines and determines explanations for clerical errors identified before and on Election Day, in addition to any issues identified during canvasses," Benson explained in a Detroit Free Press op-ed. "Their goal is to assist clerks in developing protocols to prevent such errors in future elections."
Newsweek reached out to Whitmer's and Benson's offices for comments but did not receive replies in time for publication.
