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A man stands in front of the Michigan State Capitol Building holding an American flag with a “Stop the Steal” sign taped to it. (Stephen Zenner\/Sipa USA via AP Images)<\/p><\/div>\n
By John Gizzi | NEWSMAX<\/p>\n
On Monday, Norm Shinkle drew national attention as the lone member of the Michigan Board of Canvassers who abstained from voting to certify the state\u2019s 16 electoral votes for Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
But the vote of Shinkle, a Williamston attorney and 8th\u00a0District Republican chairman, came after what he called \u201ca whole string of anonymous calls threatening my family and me, and 20 to 30\u00a0protesters on my front lawn Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mentality here was \u2018whoever threatens the most wins,\u2019\u201d Shinkle told Newsmax on Monday evening, soon after the six-hour meeting of the Board of Canvassers.\u00a0\u201cAnd I was \u2018Dr. Evil\u2019 to the left wing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Days before the vote, Shinkle made clear his desire to vote to delay certification pending a complete audit of the 5.5 million votes cast Nov.\u00a03\u00a0in the Water Wonderland.<\/p>\n
But, he told Newsmax on Saturday, \u201cI need the evidence [of errors in the vote-count] and I need it in 48 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shinkle said he has carefully watched those affiliated with President Donald Trump\u2019s legal team \u2014 Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline \u2014 \u201cand I want to see what they have in terms of hard evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lacking the desired evidence, he abstained to vote. The other Republican on the Board of Canvassers, state House Republican Caucus attorney Aaron Van Langevelde, voted with the two Democrats to certify the outcome of the election. The two Democrats are Jeannette Bradshaw, recording secretary of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58, and Macomb County Commissioner Julie Matuzak, former political director of the American Federation of Teachers.<\/p>\n
By the time he sat down with the board on Monday, Shinkle said, he had received more than 40 telephone calls and 7,000 emails \u2014 most of them calling on him to certify the votes for Biden and many of them threatening.<\/p>\n
The calls and emails, he believed, were \u201cmost likely orchestrated by the state Democratic Party and labor unions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shinkle also believes that the \u201cpublic comments\u201d that were Skyped and Zoomed into the meeting before the vote were \u201ccompleted orchestrated by the left.\u00a0Nearly all of the participants warning against a vote not to certify used the exact words \u2018disenfranchishing black and brown voters\u2019 and that was a clear sign this was scripted.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasized to Newsmax he still has \u201cmany questions\u201d about the Dominion Voting Systems company whose voting machines are used in much of the state and about the role of the \u201cRock the Vote\u201d Democrat\u00a0turnout apparatus.<\/p>\n
Before the vote, Shinkle read a strong statement denouncing liberal Democrat and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and calling for an investigation of illegal voting in the 2020 Michigan election and a plan to fix the system.\u00a0In so doing, he echoed a similar call from State Senate Republican Leader Mike Shirkey.<\/p>\n
As for the threatening phone messages, Shinkle told Newsmax \u201cthe ones that mentioned my wife and children or said \u2018we know where you live\u2019 I turned over to the police.\u201d<\/p>\n