Well, well, well — looks like democracy took another punch to the gut, this time courtesy of Hamtramck, Michigan, where a city councilman apparently mistook the election drop box for a recycling bin and decided to stuff it until it begged for mercy.
Meet Abu Musa, the local politician who just happened to win re-election days after being caught on camera handing over what looked like Costco-sized stacks of absentee ballots to a guy in a car who then politely dumped them into a ballot box like he was mailing Christmas cards. Nothing suspicious about that, right? Just your average Tuesday in local government.
The footage, which surfaced thanks to an ongoing investigation by Michigan State Police, shows Musa in the passenger seat, playing the role of ballot fairy. His driver? The designated dropper, a job that’s apparently very in-demand during election season. Because when you care about civic duty, you outsource it.
Fast forward four days, and Musa cruised to victory in a crowded primary with 1,129 votes. But here’s the kicker: only *286* of them came from people who actually showed up on election day. The other *843*? All absentee. What a coincidence.
Without the absentee votes, Musa would’ve landed in fifth place — far from re-election, and even farther from the power he seems to enjoy so much. But thanks to a mailbox that got more action than a Black Friday sale, he’s back on the council. The system works, folks.
Now, technically, Michigan law allows someone to drop off absentee ballots for others, but — and here’s the fine print Musa’s legal team is probably reading very slowly — only if they’re immediate family or live with the person. So unless Musa’s got a 50-person family tree living under one roof, or he’s running the world’s weirdest Airbnb, we’ve got a problem.
He hasn’t responded to media requests, probably because he’s busy preparing a PowerPoint explaining how every ballot he handed off came from his cousin’s uncle’s dog’s roommate.
And this isn’t even the first episode in the Hamtramck Election Chronicles. Just last year, two other city council members were charged with election fraud. Why? Because a city clerk noticed bundles of absentee ballots with handwriting that looked like it came from the same person — maybe someone who thought changing the pen color would be enough to throw off investigators. Spoiler: it wasn’t.
Musa was named in that investigation too, but so far, he’s dodged charges. Impressive track record. Maybe he should moonlight as a magician.
But wait, there’s more. Musa is also being investigated — along with another council member — for possibly not even living in the city he represents. Because why stop at ballot shenanigans when you can also toss residency requirements out the window? Apparently, living in the place you govern is just a suggestion now.
Still, he denies any wrongdoing. Because of course he does. In modern politics, “deny everything” has become the go-to strategy. Caught on camera? Deny. Under investigation? Deny. Literally filling a ballot box like you’re stuffing a turkey? Deny harder.
And let’s not forget the real MVPs in all this: the state investigators, who only caught this on tape because they were already digging into the guy’s residency status. Sometimes, when you pull one thread in local politics, the whole sweater unravels — and underneath, it’s just a bunch of people who never read the rulebook.
But don’t expect any meaningful reform, accountability, or even embarrassment. This is local politics in 2025. The ballots get stuffed, the charges get dodged, and the same people keep smiling in their official portraits like they didn’t just get caught treating democracy like a rigged carnival game.
So, next time someone tells you election fraud is just a conspiracy theory, feel free to direct them to the Hamtramck highlight reel. Because nothing says “free and fair elections” like a city councilman playing Santa Claus with absentee ballots.