Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Friday that her office has filed felony charges against four Michigan residents accused of double-voting, as well as three assistant clerks allegedly involved in facilitating the illegal votes.
The four voters from St. Clair Shores—Frank Prezzato, Stacy Kramer, Douglas Kempkins Jr., and Geneva O’Day—are each charged with one felony count of double-voting and one count of “Offering to Vote More than Once” for reportedly casting votes both in person and via absentee ballot, according to Nessel’s office.
Assistant clerks Patricia Guciardo and Emily McClintock each face one count of Falsifying Election Returns or Offering to Vote More than Once, while a third clerk, Molly Brasure, faces two counts of Falsifying Election Returns or Records, as well as two counts each of Voting Absentee and in Person, and Offering to Vote More than Once.
The voters allegedly attempted to vote in person during the August primary election but were informed by poll workers that their absentee ballots had already been received. The Electronic Poll Book confirmed that each had cast an absentee ballot. However, Guciardo, McClintock, and Brasure reportedly instructed election workers to override the system’s warnings and issue in-person ballots, subsequently marking the previously issued absentee ballots as rejected instead of received.
As a result, the voters were allowed to cast their in-person ballots, leading to both their in-person and absentee votes being counted, which amounted to double voting.
The alleged fraud came to light after St. Clair Shores Clerk Abrial Barret reported the double-voting to the Macomb County clerk, the local police department, and the state bureau of elections. Although the Macomb County prosecutor opted not to pursue charges in August, Nessel’s office found sufficient evidence during its investigation to file charges.
Nessel expressed that the incident “raised significant concerns and is simply unheard of.”
“Despite common talking points by those who seek to instill doubt in our electoral process, double voting in Michigan is extremely rare,” Nessel said. “There are procedures in place to ensure this does not happen and that is why it so rarely does. It took a confluence of events and decisions to allow these four people to double vote.”
The issue of double-voting is not new across the country. The Wisconsin Elections Commission received notifications of 30 potential voter fraud cases from local clerks between July 1, 2023, and September 12. Of these, 18 involved voters allegedly casting two ballots, utilizing both an absentee in-person ballot and an absentee mail-in ballot. Seven of these cases were reported in Milwaukee County during the 2024 spring election, while eight occurred during the 2023 spring election. Additional reports of alleged double-voting also surfaced in Kenosha and Douglas counties.
The state has also received reports of felons registering to vote.
