Macomb County Sheriff's Office
Tranae Myesha Rainey
A Macomb County nursing home employee was sentenced to 45 days in jail and probation for forging signatures on absentee ballot applications.
Trenae Myesha Rainey pleaded guilty Wednesday to three misdemeanor counts of making a false statement on an absentee ballot application.
Rainey forged the signatures of residents of the Father Murray Nursing Home where she worked, even though they had not requested the applications.
She was sentenced to probation, with the first 45 days to be served in the Macomb County Jail.
Rainey was busted after the Centerline clerk received a stack of roughly two dozen absentee voter applications and cross-checked the signatures on the applications with voter signatures on the qualified voter file. The signatures didn’t match.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the case highlights how election securities easily weed out fraud.
"I appreciate our partners at the Department of State and Michigan State Police who brought this case to us," Nessel said. "These collaborative investigations assist in maintaining the integrity of our elections, and this case highlights the scrutiny applications and ballots undergo throughout the election process to weed out instances of attempted fraud. We will not hesitate to prosecute anyone – regardless of political party – who attempts to undermine our elections."
Former President Donald Trump and his supporters have repeatedly and falsely claimed he lost the election because of widespread fraud. But in Michigan, only three fraud cases have surfaced in the 2020 presidential election.
Carless Clark was sentenced to 12 months of probation after pleading guilty to forging his grandson’s signature on his absentee ballot envelope. Nancy Williams faces trial after authorities said she developed a plan to obtain unlawfully absentee ballots for legally incapacitated people under her care.
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