An investigation into possible voter fraud in Michigan revealed a connection with former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).
A joint investigation by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, Michigan State Police and the Muskegon Police Department found the Muskegon City Clerk first reported a suspicious woman dropping off thousands of voter registration applications in October 2020. The clerk noticed incomplete or incorrect information on the forms, including addresses that didn’t exist, incorrect phone numbers and incorrect birthdays.
According to a police report, the investigation task force discovered the woman worked for an organization that has operated since 2014. The woman told police the organization gave her a rental car to canvass for voters and said she was paid with a reloadable “pay card."
According to investigators, GBI Strategies, a Tennessee-based "get-out-the-vote" and voter registration management company, was the organization the woman worked for. When police went to the GBI Strategies address at 160 E. Broadway Avenue, Muskegon Heights, MI, they realized the former business there, California Eyewear, was no longer in business.
They surveilled the business and eventually executed a search warrant. A supplement to a police report states investigators found hundreds of pre-payment cards, dozens of new phones, incomplete voter registration forms, rifles with silencers, which had valid tax stamps, and legal, customized pistols.
Detectives discovered the people conducting business at the location were renting the location and had no connection to California Eye Wear.
When analyzing the business, detectives also discovered the vendor had receipts dating back to 2014 from organizations and candidates, most of the Democratic.
According to records, 14 payments totaling $1,571,386 by the Doug Jones for Senate Committee were made in 2017 for the 2018 midterm election to GBI Strategies.
The investigation was turned over to the FBI, and no charges were ever filed against GBI Strategies or any company associates.
Jones told 1819 News he had never heard of any investigation or been contacted by anyone in connection to an investigation.
"The allegations in Michigan, I don't think have anything to do with us," Jones said. "I have never heard of any of this and to my knowledge, we have never been contacted by any law enforcement authority about any of this."
The full redacted police report can be read below.
MSP Police Report by Erica Thomas on Scribd
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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