NYT's Alexandra Berzon infiltrates and smears Michigan's election integrity groups

Last week, a reporter from the New York Times contacted Jane Iyer, Livingston County Republican Party Secretary and Genesee County lead for Check My Vote (CMV). NYT's Alexandra Berzon allegedly wanted to fact-check an article she planned to write about voter challenges in Michigan and other states. Berzon specifically wanted to speak with Iyer about her work with Michigan Fair Elections (MFE) and CMV's Soles to the Rolls and submitting challenge requests to Genoa County.

Last November, Berzon published a hit piece on MFE, a non-partisan election integrity group in Michigan. Berzon wrote that MFE participants discussed friendly insiders on Michigan canvassing boards, repeated debunked conspiracy theories about election machines, and obsessed over the idea that Democrats cheat to win elections.

However, in her latest correspondence with Iyer, Berzon disclosed that she planned to potentially print several inaccuracies, such as the assertion that MFE works with the Michigan GOP. In response to this, Iyer clarified that CMV works with the MIGOP and MFE's Soles to Rolls project but that MFE does not work with the MIGOP.

Regarding the allegation that CMV looks for addresses with an unusually high number of registered voters, Iyer clarified that CMV's website can report on how many registrations there are at each address and that these can be sorted from high to low or low to high. She added that CMV does not "look for" high numbers but instead identifies incomplete registrations, such as missing apartment numbers or trailer park lot numbers.

These incomplete registrations pose a problem because, without a complete address, there is no way to verify the identity of the voter or ensure chain of custody for mail-in ballots. Iyer emphasized that CMV identifies these incomplete registrations, which she believes is a great service.

As of yet, there has been no response from Berzon or the NYT regarding Iyer's clarifications.