The Wayne County GOP's Refusal to Certify the Presidential Vote was Pointless, Dangerous, and Bizarre

Civil Society Doesn't Work if Every Act is Political

If you go to the DMV to renew your driver’s license and the clerk says your license is DENIED because you’re registered Democrat you’d probably be surprised and angry.

You’d be surprised because you’d think, “how does a DMV clerk get to decide Democrats have no right to drive?” You’d be angry because registered Democrats in every other line at the DMV have no such problem - they are getting their licenses and driving away.

What the hell, man?

This substance of this scene played out in Detroit yesterday when the four-member Wayne County Board of Canvassers refused to certify the Presidential election. Like most public election bodies, the Board of Canvassers has a “ministerial” function: that is, they perform government duties without using any individual judgment.

Most governmental officials are ministerial. The police officer can’t pull you over because you have MAGA bumper stickers and the County Clerk can’t refuse a gay couple a marriage license for personal “religious reasons.”

See…