Michigan Resident’s Attempt to Collect Ballots in a Toilet Ruled Illegal

It probably started out as a joke or maybe a statement about the ridiculousness of the whole mail-in-ballot debate that has been going on across the nation.

But a Lansing area resident is technically not allowed to collect mail-in ballots in a toilet on his front lawn.

The home in Mason features an empty toilet on the lawn with a sandwich board sign that reads, "Place mail in ballots here!" and an arrow that points to the commode.

There's also a sign in the yard calling for the recall of Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Click here to take a look at the pictures from ABC-33 & 40.

It's funny. But Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum isn't laughing.

"Earlier this week, I filed a complaint with the Mason Police Department and the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office regarding a report of a potential election violation located just blocks from the Mason Historical Courthouse. The below picture shows the activity in question; the resident of the home in Mason has installed a toilet on their lawn with a sandwich-board sign that reads ‘Place Mail-In Ballots Here.’

So technically, it's illegal. Apparently, it's serious enough to be considered a felony.

"It is a felony to take illegal possession of an absentee ballot (voted or unvoted) according to Michigan Compiled Law 168.932(f). Felonies of this kind are punishable by a fine of $1,000.00 or 5 years in prison."

Wow, that's harsh.

Author's note:  You'll be glad to know that I resisted the urge to work numerous puns into this article -- and there were a s--t ton of possibilities:

Flush, bowl, tank, poop, drain, stool, bog, wipe, office, cheek, roll, paper, crack, deuce, bottom -- all of these could have been worked in somehow, but I decided to s--tcan that idea. Because it was crappy.