Flower shop target of online harassment after Shinkle abstains from Michigan vote

People threatened the life of a Republican on the Michigan canvassing board and tanked the online reviews of his brother's flower shop as the board voted to certify state election results Monday.

Republican Norm Shinkle abstained from the vote, alluding to election issues in Detroit, while fellow Republican and Vice-Chair Aaron Van Langevelde voted with the board's two Democrat members.

The board certified the state election results, which showed Joe Biden earned about 154,000 more votes than President Donald Trump. The next step in the process is for Michigan's electors to cast the state's 16 Electoral College votes on Dec. 14.

"I don't know about my Democrat colleagues, but I know Aaron and I received quite a few comments, outright threats, nasty emails telling me my family's at risk," Shinkle said. "I had one person even suggest simply, you got to vote yes to certify for the safety of your family."

After the meeting, many users called for people to harass Shinkle's Flower Shop and Greenhouse. Some left angry Google reviews about Shinkle abstaining from the certification vote. Of the 50 reviews left for the florist over three years, 17 were left in the past 48 hours, all one star.

"Replaced my order with one the florist wanted, even though I did everything correctly. Said it was because I was black, from Detroit and didn't know what I was doing," one person wrote.

Another wrote: "Just garbage. Can't be expected to follow the law. Do not trust."

People left a handful of similar reviews on the Yelp page for the florist, all one star. A couple of people left comments misidentifying Shinkle as the owner.

"Norman is a traitor to democracy," a Yelp user wrote. "Perhaps you should buy your flowers at a shop that respects the democratic process and from a shop owner that does not try to invalidate thousands of votes from people of color."

Their anger was misdirected, though, because the Temperance, Michigan flower shop is owned by Shinkle's brother, Gary Shinkle. Norm Shinkle is a former state senator who practices law in Williamston, Michigan, about an hour and a half northwest of Temperance. The Free Press called the flower shop but it was closed for the day.

Harassment continued after the meeting for the board's other Republican member, Van Langevelde, despite his vote for certification. The far-right site The Gateway Pundit called him a "traitor" on Facebook.

Monica Palmer, chairperson of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, also spoke during the hours-long meeting and shared threats she experienced after the county board certified its election results last week. Palmer initially objected to certifying the results based on discrepancies between the number of ballots recorded and the number of ballots counted.

Messages sent to her included photos of dead, naked women and threats saying her daughter would be killed, she said.

"I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through, as well as any other appointed official in the state of Michigan, if that happened to them," Shinkle told Palmer during the meeting. "It's outrageous and should not occur."

The two Democrat board members, Chair Jeannette Bradshaw and Julie Matuzak, did not appear to be the targets of online backlash.