Michigan lawmakers implore GOP House leader to investigate colleague’s role in election equipment scandal

Michigan Democrats are calling on Republican House Speaker Jason Wentworth to authorize an investigation into state Rep. Daire Rendon’s alleged attempts to gain unlawful access to voting machines.

The Lake City Republican is accused of asking multiple clerks in her district to turn over voting equipment for an investigation by state lawmakers.

No such probe was underway.

In a letter to Wentworth on Wednesday, House Democratic Leader Donna Lasinski said an investigation by the House Business Office should focus on whether Rendon unlawfully used government resources to obtain voting machines. Lasinski said investigators should review state-issued phone lines, email accounts, computers and other officer equipment.

“Our concern … is to what extent Rep. Rendon may have gone to in her efforts to misrepresent this endeavor as being legitimately conducted by the Legislature,” Lasinski wrote.

She added, “This investigation must begin urgently. The people of Michigan deserve to know if their government, through the actions of one or several elected officials or legislative employees, misused these taxpayer-funded resources.”

Progress Michigan, a progressive nonprofit, said the investigation is critical.

“Michigan voters have had more than enough of lies and conspiracy theories, but the Michigan GOP has repeatedly doubled down on sowing doubt and fear—and Rep. Rendon’s recent escapades are just one more example,” Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said in a statement Tuesday. “Rep. Rendon’s actions are a reprehensible attempt to compromise election equipment for the sake of unhinged conspiracies, and voters deserve answers about whether she used taxpayer-funded resources to do so. Every instance of behavior like this weakens public trust in our election systems and makes our state a less safe place for election workers and volunteers, especially if bad actors see they can undermine our democracy without consequences.”

Rendon’s actions also caught the attention of Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Office, which has requested the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate alleged election breaches by her opponent Matthew DePerno and others, including Rendon. They’re accused of plotting to gain unlawful access to voting equipment.

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