Ever since the 2020 election, liberals have pushed a narrative that only “conspiracy theorists” are worried about voting machines being hacked.
The left is changing their tune all of a sudden as Republicans come under fire for alleged election tampering. In the latest example, a Republican poll worker in Michigan was charged with two felonies for allegedly tampering with voting equipment during the state’s August primary.
Republican charged with election tampering
Election worker James Holkeboer is accused of inserting a USB drive into an electronic poll book that contained confidential voter data at a polling place in Kent County’s Gaines Township.
He faces up to nine years in prison on charges of falsifying returns or records and using a computer to commit a crime. The charges were brought by the county’s Republican prosecuting attorney, Chris Becker.
Kent County clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons said that the “egregious violation” did not impact the election, but there will be an audit regardless.
“This incident is extremely egregious and incredibly alarming. Not only is it a violation of Michigan law, but it is a violation of public trust and of the oath all election workers are required to take,” she said.
The investigation into Holkeboer is one of several concerning so-called “security breaches” or audits in swing states by pro-Trump operatives in the aftermath of the 2020 election. A Republican official in Colorado, Tina Peters, was charged with felonies earlier this year for alleged tampering.
Liberal suddenly concerned about election integrity?
The liberal New York Times cited the charges against Holkeboer to reinforce a narrative that pro-Trump “election deniers” are an “insider threat” to election integrity. Politico, another newspaper that has spent two years dismissing those concerned with voter fraud as “conspiracy theorists,” reports that audits by “unvetted” Republican groups could expose voting machines to “hackers intent on sowing chaos or changing the outcomes of future elections.”
Michigan’s Democrat secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said the equipment that Holkeboer allegedly tampered with has been decommissioned and that voters “can be confident that their votes will be counted accurately and securely.”
“While our elections remain secure and safe, we take seriously all violations of election law and will continue to work with the relevant authorities to assure there are consequences for those who break the law,” her office said.
Michigan’s Democrat attorney general, Dana Nessel, opened a criminal investigation into various pro-Trump alleged “breaches” of election equipment in the state, one of the most bitterly contested in the 2020 presidential race.
One of the targets of her probe is her own Republican election rival, Matt DePerno, who has pledged to “prosecute the people who corrupted the 2020 election.”