GOP-initiated forensic audit unveils no fraud in Macomb County election

Macomb County’s forensic audit of the 2020 election unveiled nothing even remotely resembling fraud, further debunking repeated and unsubstantiated claims by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The audit by Alabama-based Pro V&V, a company that tests voting systems, examined election technology and found “no outside interference.”

Among the baseless conspiracy theories is that outsiders hacked the election results, a claim that has been debunked by numerous courts, state and local audits and Trump’s own administration.

“This is just one step to restore confidence in the election process,” Republican Clerk Anthony G. Forlini wrote in a letter released Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In the 2020 election in Macomb County, Trump defeated Biden 53%-45%.

Forlini, a former Harrison Township supervisor who served in the state House from 2011 to 2016, was elected clerk in 2020, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat in the county in a long time.

Forlini said he wanted a specialist to examine the county’s election hardware and software.

Macomb County has become a hotbed of extremism and conspiracy theories. Five of the 14 Michigan residents charged for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection are from Macomb County.

Once known as the home of the “Reagan Democrats,” Macomb has become the largest Republican county in the state.

After voting twice for Barack Obama, Macomb County voters were the key to Trump's victory in Michigan in 2016. Trump won the county by about 48,000 votes, or nearly five times his margin of victory statewide. In 2020, Trump beat Joe Biden by nearly 40,000 votes in the county, and for the first time, Republicans took control of the 13-member County Board of Commissioners and picked up four of five countywide seats (prosecutor, treasurer, public works commissioner, and clerk/register of deeds), all of which Democrats held in 2016.

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