Monica Palmer, one of the two Republican members of the Wayne Co. (Michigan) Canvassing Board, told the Washington Post she received a phone call from outgoing Republican President Donald Trump in the hours after a contentious board meeting in which the two Republican member voted to not certify the votes coming from Detroit.
“I did receive a call from President Trump, late Tuesday evening, after the meeting,” Palmer told The Post in a message. “He was checking in to make sure I was safe after hearing the threats and doxing that had occurred.”
Palmer and fellow Republican William Hartmann initially voted to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of primarily-minority voters in Detroit by not certifying the vote from the city. They voted to accept the results from primarily-white suburbs of Wayne County, where error rates were reportedly higher than Detroit.
At the end of the Tuesday board meeting, after public comments made it clear the denial of certification would be viewed as a partisan, racist act, the pair voted with the two Democrats on the board to certify the elections.
By Wednesday, however, both Republicans flip-flopped again, signing affidavits that they wished to rescind their votes, a moot point given that the certified votes had been sent to the state board of canvassers.
During the two minute conversation, Palmer said Trump expressed concerned about her safety, although she was unclear if she and Trump discussed her vote.
“His concern was about my safety and that was really touching. He is a really busy guy and to have his concern about my safety was appreciated,” she told The Post.
Asked by WaPo if they discussed the presidential vote count, she said, “It’s hard for me to describe. There was a lot of adrenalin and stress going on. There were general comments about different states but we really didn’t discuss the details of the certification.”
The two Republicans have said they wanted to rescind their votes to certify because they were promised that the Michigan Secretary of State promised to audit the vote tallies. Later, Jocelyn Benson said she did not view the agreement among the Wayne County board members as binding to the state office, a statement Palmer claimed violated the agreement.