Toilet display mocking mail-in voting is a crime, official says

MASON, Mich. - A Michigan resident's apparent joke showing disdain for voting by mail is no laughing matter for one local elections official.

The resident put a toilet on their lawn with a sign that says, “Place mail in ballots here.”

Barb Byrum, the Democratic clerk of Ingham County, filed a complaint with police over the display, saying it could mislead people who aren't familiar with the voting system.

“It is a felony to take illegal possession of an absentee ballot,” Byrum said Friday.

“Elections in this country are to be taken seriously and there are many people who are voting by mail for the first time this election,” she said.

It's the “safest way to vote during the pandemic,” Byrum said.

She didn't identify the person who lives at the address. The lawn also has a sign that calls for the recall of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

More than 2 million Michigan voters could cast absentee ballots after changes in election law. Separately, a judge on Friday said absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 can be counted if received within 14 days after the Nov. 3 election.

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