Let that be a lesson to you.
Four Hamtramck men learned the hard way that when it comes to elections, you better follow the rules.
And for Hamtramck City Clerk August Gitschlag, he deserves praise for quickly noticing a wrongdoing and alerting the proper authorities.
The four men in question each handed in multiple absentee ballots last year that did not come from family members or anyone living in their households. That’s a major no-no when it comes to handling absentee ballots.
The men initially tried to argue the law is obscure, but the argument fell apart when it was pointed out the procedure for handling these ballots was clearly printed in three places on the packaging that comes with the ballots.
The men have all plead guilty to one count each of illegally handling absentee ballots, but they still face a felony conviction on their record.
We don’t know what the intentions were of these men, but even if they were trying to be nice guys and help out a friend or neighbor that’s no excuse. As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
We have election rules for a reason, and that reason is to uphold the integrity of each election.