Suspicious Ballot-Stuffing Caught on Video in Battleground State

A city council member in Michigan was reportedly seen on video helping to drop what appear to be several absentee ballots into a ballot drop box ahead of an August primary election. 

Abu Musa, a city councilman in the city of Hamtramck, Michigan, was reportedly in the passenger seat handing what appear to be ballots to the driver, who then dropped them in the drop box. Various news reports say they were “bundles” of ballots, another says “stacks.”

The video was first reported by Local 4 News in Detroit and later was reported in other Michigan and national news outlets. Local 4 reported that Michigan State Police confirmed the footage. 

On Monday, President Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order aiming to end mail-in voting, saying it is prone to fraud. On the national level, Michigan has been a battleground state that Trump carried by less than 1% in 2024.

Musa did not immediately respond to phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story. Musa hasn’t been charged with any offense. 

The driver of the vehicle dumped three stacks of ballots, 7 News Detroit WXYZ reported. 

It’s not clear that dumping a large number of ballots into a drop box is wrong or illegal—depending on whose ballots they were, according to Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown. Michigan law allows family members or household members to drop off ballots for one another. But there is no numerical limit as to how many can be dropped off.

“You can [return more than one ballot], but there’s a big caveat as to who, whose ballot you can return,” Brown told WXYZ. She added, “If it’s an immediate family member or you co-inhabit with somebody—it doesn’t have to be in a romantic way—but if you co-inhabit with someone, you can return their absentee ballots.”

The ballot drop occurred on Aug. 1. Musa won the Aug. 5 primary, garnering 1,129 votes. Of those, 843 were cast by absentee ballots, the Daily Mail reported. He received 286 votes on Election Day. 

Hamtramck, a city near Detroit with a population of fewer than 30,000, has faced a string of recent problems. Two other councilmen were arraigned on fraud charges that include allegations of forging absentee ballot applications.

Additionally, the city manager and police chief were placed on administrative leave pending separate investigations, according to WXYZ. Michigan State Police told Detroit news outlets that the video footage of Musa was part of a larger ongoing investigation into city officials.

In 2024, Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib endorsed Trump, which is notable since it is a majority Muslim city. Trump later nominated Ghalib to be ambassador to Kuwait.