FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2024

Contact: info@huwaida4umich.com

MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S KANGAROO COURT

MDP continues to reject transparency and accountability

On Sunday, September 22, 2024, the Michigan Democratic Party’s Appeals Committee met online to discuss the appeal filed by University of Michigan Board of Regents Candidate Huwaida Arraf over election irregularities at the MDP’s August 2024 Nominating Convention. Unfortunately, the process was nothing more than a kangaroo tribunal. 

The 11-member committee convened over Zoom at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening for a meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes. At the start of the meeting, Appeal’s Committee Chair Tim Hughes announced that the Committee would neither consider the written reply Ms. Arraf had submitted, nor hold the public hearing requested by Arraf to hear evidence from witnesses. Following this announcement, MDP legal counsel, Sheila Cummings read Ms. Arraf’s allegations, followed by the MDP response. Cummings then proposed that the MDP response be adopted as the final resolution of Arraf’s complaint. The proposal was seconded and unanimously approved without discussion. While Arraf was invited to attend the meeting, she was not allowed to speak, the Zoom chat was disabled, and her raised hand was ignored. 

“I was dumbfounded,” said Huwaida Arraf. “This is the only process that the MDP has in place for challenging election integrity and it was a farce. The Committee adopted the position of the MDP leadership in full, refused to consider my Reply to many of their false and problematic assertions, and refused to hold a hearing to hear evidence from the numerous people who had witnessed and experienced the MDP’s misconduct. Sadly, the MDP is making a mockery out of the Democratic Party’s claim to defend, or even care about democracy.

Arraf’s initial complaint, the MDP response, and Arraf’s reply, as well as a full recording of the Appeals Committee meeting are available on the campaign website at: https://www.huwaida4umich.com/appeal 

Among some of the most egregious assertions of the MDP include:

  • Accusing Arraf and her supporters of being sore losers and attempting to sow chaos, while at the same time continuing to ignore errors in the voting data that has repeatedly been brought to their attention;

  • Asserting for the first time (19 days after the Convention) that 1422 members were properly credentialed to vote, even though the credentials report presented at the Convention and approved by the delegates included only 1248 credentialed voters. No amendment or supplement was ever given to the convention delegates.

  • Asserting that it was proper for the MDP Chair to determine that a quorum was present to approve the Convention proceedings when only 20 out of at least 182 State Central Committee members were present. Robert’s Rules, which the MDP purportedly follows, strictly prohibits conducting business in the absence of a quorum and prohibits bypassing this requirement under any circumstance.

  • Dismissing outright claims of voter suppression and intimidation without providing a hearing to consider testimony from those who experienced it.
    Denying that individuals affiliated with other campaigns were allowed access to the vote tabulation area while Arraf’s campaign was denied access. Yet, the Committee refused to hold a public hearing to review witness and video evidence to the contrary.

  • Claiming that Candidates Diggs and Ilitch were not a slate because the “Unity Slate” that they were a part of was a labor designation, not an MDP designation. However, slates are usually never designated by the party, but rather put together by labor, organizations, factions or individual within the party. Thus, the fact that the Unity Slate was a labor designation is irrelevant. Notwithstanding, the MDP logo was used on Unity Slate materials, clearly demonstrating an acceptance of the slate by the MDP. 

It is this lack of transparency and accountability that prompted Arraf and other aggrieved MDP members to file a federal lawsuit against the party. In administering elections for the Democratic Party nomination, the MDP accepted responsibility for a function generally administered by the state. As such, the MDP is required to abide by the principles and procedures for ensuring a fair and credible election. They have failed to do that, which not only violates the constitutional rights of Arraf and other MDP members who voted in the election for University of Michigan Regent nominees, but also erodes trust in the party and its handling of elections at the very time that building trust in both is essential. The MDP has jeopardized the ability of citizens across the state of Michigan to trust that our elections are being fairly and honestly conducted.


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: (248) 987-8701
    info@huwaida4umich.com

Misconduct in Michigan Democratic Party UMich Regent Race 

Huwaida for UMich Regent Campaign submits complaint and calls for transparency


LANSING, MI - August 28, 2024 - Substantial concerns remain regarding transparency, voter suppression, error in vote tabulation, and procedural compliance related to the University of Michigan Board of Regents election, which took place at the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) Nominating Convention held on August 24, 2024, in Lansing, Michigan. Student-backed candidate Huwaida Arraf has raised several issues to Democratic Party leaders that call into question the integrity of the electoral process and the announced results. Arraf has repeatedly reached out to MDP leaders, encouraging them to take action to restore voter confidence by committing to full transparency. Today, she filed a complaint with the MDP Appeals Committee requesting swift resolution prior to the Michigan Secretary of State deadline of September 6 for presidential ballot approval.

Key concerns include:

  1. Denial of observer access: Despite repeated requests, Huwaida’s Campaign was not allowed to have a challenger present to observe the vote tabulation. Even Huwaida herself was denied access to observe the process, while other parties were reportedly allowed in and out of the tabulation room. Typically, candidates and campaign staff are welcomed backstage, and a representative from each campaign is allowed to oversee the tabulation. During this convention, other candidates, their families, union leadership, and current University of Michigan Regent Paul Brown were all welcomed backstage, protected by security and police. Meanwhile, Huwaida and her campaign staff were barred by security and MDP staff from entering the vote tabulation area.

  2. Lack of transparency: The Campaign has repeatedly requested the raw, unaltered data from the Voatz system, which produces an emailed receipt, a physical ticket to be tabulated, and a stored immutable backup for each vote cast, in order to run an independent audit. However, this data has not yet been provided. Instead, only the data altered by MDP staff was provided to the Campaign. The final tabulation of votes is dependent on a geographic and population-based weighted formula applied after the voting is completed. Therefore, we continue to request the raw and completely unedited Voatz data file that was turned over to the MDP when voting closed at 4:40 p.m., including time, geolocation, name, district, and county for each vote cast.

  3. Data discrepancies: Analysis of the provided data has revealed multiple irregularities, including:

    • More individual voters recorded than the announced number of delegates properly credentialed to vote at the Nominating Convention.

    • Incorrect county and congressional district information for several voters, which skew the weighted outcome.

  4. Voter suppression: Delegates reported being subjected to obstacles in acquiring voting credentials. MDP officers and staff repeatedly provided inaccurate information to Campaign staff and to voting delegates including providing the wrong deadline for signature submission, and telling voters they could vote from home, which is explicitly prohibited by the MDP Call to Convention and convention rules.  Additionally, instances of delegate harassment, and stealing of Huwaida’s nominating petitions were reported by volunteers.

"These irregularities raise serious questions about the integrity of the election process," said Hind Omar, a spokesperson for Huwaida's campaign. "We are calling for an immediate halt to the certification of announced results pending a release of the raw, unedited Voatz app data, and a monitored recount."


Huwaida’s campaign has reached out to the Michigan Democratic Party to express its concerns about the process and report the numerous errors that it found in the data supplied by the MDP. The Campaign has indicated its desire to work with the MDP to address its concerns, as well as its readiness to pursue legal action if these concerns are not addressed promptly and transparently by MDP officials. MDP officials have not yet responded to these requests.

Huwaida commented: “Hundreds of University of Michigan students and their friends and families showed up to participate in the Michigan Democratic Party Nominating Convention this past weekend, comprising an overwhelming majority of the delegates at the convention. They brought with them spirit, energy, and a desire to meaningfully engage in the democratic process with the hopes of being heard. These students should have been enthusiastically welcomed by the Party. Instead, they left feeling disillusioned by a flawed process and lack of transparency that seemingly undermined their vote. The MDP has a chance to rectify this and I hope they do.”


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