By Aiyeku Timothy
Michigan will provide armed protection for presidential electors as they submit their electoral college votes to confirm Joe Biden as the next president on Monday.
This is the first time that the state has ever needed extra security for electoral college vote casting as members of Stop the Steal, an activist movement to keep Donald Trump in power despite his defeat, vow to storm Michigan’s Capitol Building for a protest.
Those electors will reportedly be given extra protection from their cars to the Lansing statehouse as Michigan is an open-carry state where Trump protesters will besiege.
Inside the building, 16 electors will sign certificates indicating their support for Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice-president.
Mark Miller, the Kalamazoo township clerk confirmed that he received notification that he will get the police escort for the vote.
“I’m trusting that we will be protected. In any case, we have a duty to do and we are going to carry it out,” he had said.
Michigan, where Joe Biden won by more than 154,000 votes is known to be a spot for protests as dozens of armed Stop the Steal protestors went to the home of secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, last Saturday and shouted abuse until police arrived.
Also, during the pandemic protests were held outside the statehouse against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s virus lockdowns.
However, the protection has become necessary with the latest violence in Washington DC on Saturday night as the outgoing president has refused to concede the election to Biden and repeatedly insisted that the election was tainted by voter fraud. His supporters have also acted in that direction.
Trump’s lawyers have been defeated in a string of cases in battleground states across the country as he has failed to provide any evidence to back up his claims.
Michigan State Police are refusing to give more details on what additional security measures are in place.
