Michigan strips UP clerk of election duty over planned hand count

• State elections officials have removed an Upper Peninsula clerk and his deputy from overseeing their township’s Nov. 5 election
• The pair had previously told the state they would hand count ballots before handing them over for canvass — a violation of state law
• It marks a larger effort by Michigan’s elections officials to crack down on any efforts to subvert state results, as was attempted in 2020

An Upper Peninsula clerk and his deputy have been removed from overseeing the Nov. 5 presidential election after the pair indicated they would hand count their township’s ballots before sending them off to county canvassers.

Rock River Township Clerk Tom Schierkolk and Deputy Clerk David LaMere were notified about the change in a letter, dated Monday, from Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater. 

“This directive remains in effect until further notice,” wrote Brater, who works under Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “Be advised that willfully failing to comply with a lawful order from the Secretary of State is a criminal misdemeanor offense.”

Rock River Township, a small community of just over 1,200 people, is located in Alger County. In 2020, 389 local voters backed Republican Donald Trump, while 324 supported Democrat Joe Biden. 

Schierkolk and LaMere had previously sent a letter to the Department of State notifying the department that they would not store the township’s ballots in their intended, numerically-sealed containers following the close of polls but instead planned to conduct a hand count prior to Alger County’s canvass.

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Rules for how that hand count would occur could also be found on the township’s website.

But Brater said that plan is “contrary to law” in Michigan, which uses machines to tabulate paper ballots. An unsanctioned hand count could “interfere with the integrity of the election process, undermine the county canvass, and jeopardize the ability of candidates to request a recount.”

Schierkolk, who is also a local pastor, appeared to know about the letter Sunday, when he said in a sermon that Brater had “threatened” him with a misdemeanor criminal charge “if we hand-count the ballots on election night.”

“We have a little bit of drama going on with our township here,” Schierkolk said during a livestream church service. “I would pray that you would just ask that God would provide his wisdom and his protection for us as we carry out the functions that we have as township officials.”

Schierkolk went on to ask for additional prayers over the election itself, saying it’s been a “busy time for everyone” working the elections and “it is going to be a very interesting next week and a half, I guess.”

Neither Schierkolk nor LaMere were immediately available for comment on Wednesday and did not respond to messages from Bridge Michigan.

The two will be replaced by Rock River Deputy Treasurer Wilma Hill and Au Train Township Clerk Mary Walter Johnson effective immediately, Brater added, for all “election administration activities.”

That includes any efforts related to voter registration and routine list maintenance; preparing, issuing or processing in-person and absentee ballots; ordering or assembling election supplies; recruiting, placing and training elections inspectors; logic and accuracy testing of voting machines, and more.

It also includes handling “any Election Day issues that may arise,” Brater wrote, as well as posting “unofficial election results, and responsibilities related to the postelection canvass process.”

Schierkolk, who also chairs the township’s election commission, earlier this month had attempted to “disassociate” the township from the Alger County Election Commission, according to meeting minutes.

In a resolution, Schierkolk argued the township ran “their elections in a true constitutional form, by the people, without influence from the Alger County Election Commission, the Michigan Election Commission and the Federal Election Commission.” 

“Be it further resolved that for all future elections Rock River Township assembles it(s) own slate of election inspectors unaffiliated from party influence and election interference and declaring themselves to be simply one of ‘we the people,’” the resolution read.

That motion failed after receiving no support from committee members, according to the meeting minutes. 

The Rock River Township Clerk's website also features a series of other unusual documents, including an affidavit purporting to grant local officials "sovereign immunity for official acts."

Schierkolk isn’t the first Michigan election official to be removed from duty ahead of the presidential election. 

Republican Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot was removed from his elections duties in July 2023 and replaced with a deputy after Grot was charged with multiple felonies related to an ongoing election forgery case. 

Alongside more than a dozen other Republicans, Grot stands accused of  secretly meeting on Dec. 14, 2020 in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters to hatch a plan to submit forged certificates falsely confirming the state had voted for former President Donald Trump, despite then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s victory.