Michigan ballot scandal: Councilman filmed in drop-box stuffing row; police confirm authenticity of footage

A Michigan city councillor is facing scrutiny after a video appeared to show him involved in a ballot-stuffing incident just days before he secured re-election.The footage, confirmed by Michigan State Police, shows Hamtramck council member Abu Musa seated in a car on 1 August. In the clip, Musa can be seen passing several bundles of papers, believed to be absentee ballots, to the driver. The driver is then seen placing three stacks into a drop box. As reported by the Daily Mail, the timing was significant as it occurred only four days before Hamtramck’s primary elections on 5 August, in which Musa came first with 1,129 votes.According to the New York Post, election records reveal that 843 of Musa’s votes were cast by absentee ballot, while only 286 came on election day itself. Without the absentee votes, Musa would have ranked just fifth in the 12-person contest.The allegations surfaced against the backdrop of ongoing election controversies in Hamtramck. Earlier this month, two other council members, Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan, were charged with forging ballots in the 2023 local election. In that case, attorney general Dana Nessel alleged the councillors had conspired to collect unvoted absentee ballots from recently naturalised citizens and then filled them in with their preferred candidates. Musa had been named in the same probe but was not charged.The city clerk originally raised concerns when “identical handwriting” appeared on multiple absentee ballot envelopes and “large bundles of ballots” were submitted at once, Detroit’s Local 4 News reported. Hamtramck City clerk Rana Faraj stressed, “State laws are clear that your ballot should only be handled by you or a family member.”Musa is also under a separate investigation into whether he actually resides within Hamtramck, a requirement to serve on the council. He has denied any wrongdoing, the New York Post reported.Michigan law permits individuals to deliver absentee ballots on behalf of others, but only if they are close relatives or live in the same household. Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown explained to WXWZ, saying, “If it’s an immediate family member or you co-inhabit with somebody, you can return their absentee ballots.”The controversy has further unsettled Hamtramck, a city of just over 28,000 people, more than 70 per cent of whom are Muslim. In 2022, it became the first US city with an all-Muslim council. Its political profile grew last year when Mayor Amer Ghalib publicly endorsed Donald Trump, later nominated by the US President as Ambassador to Kuwait.Trump narrowly carried Michigan in the 2024 election, winning 49.7 per cent of the vote compared to Kamala Harris’ 48.3 per cent.