Detroit — Southfield City Clerk Sherikia L. Hawkins was charged on Monday with six felony counts tied to her administration of the November 2018 election.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson made the announcement in Detroit, calling it a "rare" case.

"Voting is fundamental to the very essence of our democracy," Nessel said during a Monday news conference. "It is incumbent upon state governments to safeguard the electoral process and ensure that every voter's right to cast a ballot is protected."

Sherikia L. Hawkins (Photo: City of Southfield)

The issues came to light during the 14-day canvass following the election.

Benson said the Oakland County Clerk’s Office "reported with the Bureau of Elections the potential for these irregularities and from there we began our investigation."

Nessel said she and Benson wanted to make sure the state's elections were protected from "every conceivable threat."

"This is a rare instance and certainly the first for either of us in any of our administrations," Benson told reporters.

The allegations were referred to Michigan State Police for an investigation. Benson said there was little that could be revealed since the situation is ongoing.

Benson said this "potential misconduct" involves "unauthorized and inaccurate changes, which were made to the list of voters" on absentee ballots.

This, however, did not alter the outcome of the election, she stressed, and "there were no voters that were disenfranchised."

Hawkins was arraigned Monday on the charges, which include election law-falsifying returns and records, forgery of a public record, misconduct in office and multiple counts of using a computer to commit a crime. Forgery of a public record is a 14-year offense, according to the charges provided by Nessel.

According to an affidavit filed by Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Larissa LaMay, the lead investigator of the election fraud complaint, Oakland County Elections Director Joseph Rozell began working to certify the city's absentee precincts after the election.

He then "contacted Hawkins when he noticed that ballot summary sheets were blank."

Rozell, after questioning Hawkins about her ballot sheets, said it appeared "that the ballot return dates for voters were added or removed from the report in order to force the reports to balance to the number of ballots tabulated for each precinct on election night."

"It appears that Hawkins had switched her original reports with altered reports," LaMay wrote.

The report notes that 193 absentee voter "Qualified Voter Files" were altered in the computer system.

The clerk is to refrain from administering any election while the criminal case is pending, Benson said.

"My office will remain actively involved" to ensure elections in Southfield run smoothly, Benson said. "Our response is careful, measured, swift and the consequences are severe."

In a statement, state Sen. Jeremy Moss and Rep. Kyra Harris Bolden, both Southfield Democrats, said they were "shocked by the charges brought against Clerk Hawkins."

“Absentee ballots will start to go out this week for the upcoming November municipal election and Secretary Benson has removed Clerk Hawkins from administering this election," the lawmakers' statement said. "We can assure our Southfield neighbors that their votes will be counted.”

Hawkins was elected as Southfield's clerk on Nov. 7, 2017.

The prosecution is being led by the Public Integrity Unit of the Department of Attorney General, which ensures that public officials or law enforcement officers who commit crimes in Michigan, regardless of position, standing or party, are held accountable.

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