The judge in the Antrim County lawsuit says he will not allow discovery entered late in the game, saying "discovery is closed." Previously, DePerno had requested discovery to expand to other counties but, on Monday, DePerno requested an expansion to other townships within Antrim County. The judge stated that "the court rules require us to move precipitously...and I advised attorneys at the beginning" of that expeditious timeline. The hearing can be viewed here.
Attorney Matt DePerno filed a supplemental brief for Monday's hearing for the Antrim County election lawsuit with 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin A. Elsenheimer. In the brief, DePerno claims that the Mar. 26, 2021 analysis by expert Alex Halderman has been debunked by the testimony from expert witness Jeffrey Lenberg, as reported by UncoverDC on May 7. Halderman concluded that the Antrim County "election results were the result of human error and were not caused by a security breach and that there is no credible evidence errors were caused deliberately." Halderman's report can be found here.
DePerno also entered Lenberg's testimony into the case. Unfortunately, according to DePerno, his amended complaint was filed but didn't make it to Judge Elsenheimer's desk. He wanted to amend the motion schedule, filed May 6, as well, but the weekend may have interfered with the court's receipt of DePerno/Bailey requests.
Antrim County/May 10 Hearing/ Judge Elsenheimer Presiding
Assistant Attorney General Erik Grill argued for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson that there is no further relief that the court can grant. "The election results have already been certified," he continued. He also said that Bailey could have called for a recount but did not. Grill shot down every claim in DePerno's amended complaint, including doing a forensic audit. Grill maintained Bailey is not allowed to "concoct" his own "personalized audit."
Grill's most notable comment regarded what DePerno has called Antrim shuffle. As reported by UncoverDC, DePerno referred in his amended complaint to Nov. 4, Nov. 5, and finally Nov. 21 as all having different vote totals for the two presidential candidates. Grill maintains that the first two sets of results were unofficial, so there was no injury or "material fraud" since it ultimately did not change the election results. And, he continued, since the final official certified results were "essentially accurate," there is no reason to investigate the election. He asked the court to rule on the motion to dismiss and then consider DePerno's amended complaint.
DePerno contends that a recount would do nothing and that there is no mechanism for a citizen to investigate or audit a fraudulent election with the kind of evidence he has. "We have submitted substantial proof to the court that these voting systems are able to switch votes, to manipulate votes, and it is so easy to do it." DePerno pointed out that the Dec. 17 recount was not an audit, as stated by Grill during the hearing. According to DePerno, Benson conducted a "hand recount of 18k ballots in various townships across the state of Michigan." DePerno countered Grill's argument that this is an "individualized audit" being requested. In fact, he referred to the very rules in Michigan's Post Election Audit manual for some of the measures he is requesting.
Judge Elsenheimer said he will decide whether the plaintiff's case lacks standing on Tuesday, May 18. Attorney Matt DePerno argues that the case does have standing specifically because of a new provision in the Michigan Constitution, Article 2, Section 4 (1)(h), which indicates that a citizen has “the right to have the results of statewide elections audited in such a manner as prescribed by law to ensure the accuracy and the integrity of elections.” The constitutional language was part of an amendment to the 1963 Michigan Constitution. The amendment was passed in the November 2018 General Election.
"If nothing else comes from this lawsuit, it is that the vote was subverted," added DePerno. "No one can tell me what the actual ballots say unless you show them to me...they certify an election without ever looking at the paper ballots." DePerno requested that the decision for the motion to dismiss be delayed until next Tuesday when Elsenheimer has had the time to go through the missing documents that were supposed to be in today's hearing.
DePerno explained what he planned to argue in today's hearing to Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast on Monday morning before the hearing here. He told Bannon that three Republicans are among the biggest opponents in his fight to expose the Antrim County fraud.
The judge plans to prepare an oral decision by the end of the weekend to be discussed at next Tuesday's hearing. Grill still has several depositions scheduled but wants to delay them because of the addition of ElectionSource in the amended complaint. The depositions related to the counties with motions in the case will be delayed. The county Plaintiffs are represented by Attorney Haider Kazim, who is also the Chair for the Grand Traverse County Republican Party. Expert reports for Plaintiff and Defendant are due on May 24.
