Lawmaker allegedly 'stuffs ballots' in swing state that Trump just won
Musa then watches the driver deposit three stacks of ballots into a drop box. Michigan State Police confirmed the authenticity of the clip, which was filmed on August 1. It is part of an investigation into council members' residency requirements.
The alleged ballot box stuffing incident took place just before the city's latest primary election on August 5 - which Musa won with more than 1,129 votes. The video comes days after two of Musa's councilmen colleagues, Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan, were charged over forging ballots in the city's tightly fought 2023 election. Musa was previously named as 'under investigation' in the same conspiracy - but was not charged at the time.
According to a document by Attorney General Dana Nessel requesting a special prosecutor in the 2023 case, Musa's colleagues 'conspired to receive unvoted absentee ballots that had been signed by recently naturalized citizens.' The accused then allegedly proceeded to 'fill in the candidates of their choosing' during the city's 2023 elections, according to the document issued in April.
Musa received the most votes in the August 5 primary election, per unofficial election results released on August 6 - receiving 12.5 percent of total votes in a field of 12 candidates. Of the total 1,129 votes received by Musa, 843 were cast by absentee ballot. The 286 total of election day votes received by Musa is only the fifth-highest tally.
Hamtramck's council was embroiled in the election forgery scandal earlier this year - and Sadman and Hassan were charged on August 11. Musa and another council member, Mohammed Alsomiri, were not charged at the time. The drama was ramped up when Attorney General Nessel then decided to recuse herself from the investigation because of criticism she had faced in the past. Nessel, a Jewish lesbian, previously criticized policy positions taken by the Muslim-majority council to ban Pride flags from being flown on city-owned property. The Michigan Attorney General had also faced harsh scrutiny for her prosecutions of pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Michigan in the wake of October 7.
Nessel was additionally accused of prosecuting the campus protestors due to 'bias against Muslims and/or people of Arab descent.' She foresaw similar criticisms coming her way in this ballot forgery case, as five of the defendants 'are of Arab descent' - therefore she removed herself. Hamtamack, a city in Metro Detroit, has a population just over 28,000 residents, which is over 70 percent Muslim. The city became the first in America to be governed by an all-Muslim council in 2022.
Detroit's Local 4 News reported that the initial investigation began 'after the city clerk noticed unusual patterns with absentee ballots - including identical handwriting on multiple envelopes and large bundles of ballots submitted at once.' Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj told Votebeat that 'state laws are clear that your ballot should only be handled by you or a family member,' adding that 'everyone's cousins around here.' The council is made up of six members, and three slots are up for election every two years. Members serve four-year terms.
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