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Four of the seven people charged in a St. Clair Shores double voting scandal from August have now had the charges against them dismissed.
Molly Brasure, who served as a poll worker, and Geneva O’Day, who was accused of casting two ballots in the primary election, both had their charges dropped last week. Judge Mark Fratarcangeli of the 40th District Court said during a recent hearing that prosecutors had failed to demonstrate that there was probable cause to pursue charges in both cases. He also offered apologies to both women.
“You were a victim of a situation,” the Macomb Daily quoted Fratarcangeli as telling Brasure.
O’Day, speaking to Votebeat on Thursday, said that apology meant a lot to her. “It was a mess,” she said. “When he said, ‘you’re free to go,’ all I could say was ‘Thank you, Jesus.’”
Brasure and her attorney could not be reached for comment.
The dismissal follows earlier decisions to dismiss charges against two other poll workers. Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office told Votebeat that it intends to appeal each of these dismissals, with oral arguments scheduled for April. Three others still face charges.
Election experts say it’s common for voter-fraud cases like these to be dismissed. While intentional fraud does occur in rare instances, most cases described as “voting fraud” actually stem from human error, said Lorraine Minnite, an associate professor of political science at Rutgers University-Camden and author of a book about voter fraud.
What’s unusual about the cases in Michigan is that they were brought at all, Minnite said. She said that without clear evidence of conspiracy or coordinated fraud, prosecutors rarely take such an aggressive stance.
“In federal cases, the government tends to go after conspiracies,” Minnite said, citing a case in southwestern Virginia where the mayor of a small town and 13 others were indicted in an alleged vote-buying scheme. In local cases, “it’s just not something that serious law enforcement usually put real resources into, especially if the cases are going to fall apart as soon as they get in court.”
Voting twice is a felony in Michigan, although it is exceedingly rare. In 2022, an audit by the state auditor general found that of the more than 11.7 million votes cast in Michigan over several elections, 99.99% were not duplicates.
In the St. Clair Shores case, Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido declined to prosecute the voters who were accused of voting twice, saying it wasn’t likely anyone intended to commit a crime. But Nessel’s office proceeded to charge seven people — the four voters and three poll workers — in October for their roles in the alleged double voting.
“The Department of Attorney General takes very seriously cases of election fraud, and will attempt to hold accountable all individuals criminally responsible for these instances of double voting in St. Clair Shores,” Danny Wimmer, press secretary for Nessel’s office, wrote in an emailed statement.
The initial charges came at a time when Nessel was working closely with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to emphasize that tampering with Michigan’s elections would not be accepted. Nessel initiated or threatened legal action against a variety of groups involved in alleged election crimes, including canvassers who didn’t initially certify results in Delta County (they ultimately did), fake electors who participated in a plot to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 loss in Michigan, and a former clerk who allegedly used an electronic poll book to transmit private voter data.
The three remaining voters accused of casting two ballots — Stacey Kramer, Douglas Kempkens Jr., and Frank Prezzato — will have additional court appearances in coming months, according to court records.
If found guilty, the accused voters would face up to nine years in prison.
Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org.
