After alleged forgeries were alleged in signatures submitted by candidates, several Republican candidates for Michigan governor, including top contenders, were removed from the primary ballot.
Five GOP candidates stated that they did not know of any issues with their signatures and many are looking into legal avenues to be on the Aug. 2, ballot.
These developments have thrown off the race for leadership in a key swing state.
Here’s how it happened:
The deadline for Michigan candidates to various offices was April 19, when they had to file their paperwork with the secretary-of-state in order to appear on the primary election ballot.
Candidates must also submit a minimum of 15,000 signatures aEUR” when filing their paperwork. Candidates for the office of governor were required to submit at least 15,000 signatures aEUR and a maximum number of 30,000. They would have a buffer in case the Board of State Canvassers (an independent bipartisan group composed of governor-appointed members) decides that not all signatures submitted were valid.
In the beginning, there were 10 Republican candidates for governor. Voters can only sign one nominating petition. Campaigns have adapted, as in previous cycles, by using both paid and volunteer petition circulators or signature gatherers.
The Board of State Canvassers and a county clerk may challenge the nominating petitions within seven days of the deadline.
It’s prudent to always look at the signatures of other candidates. You won’t be able to tell if it’s worth looking at them until you do. After signing signatures with Perry Johnson, consultant John Yob advised reporters to “at least flip through them.”
Nearly 30 candidates were unsuccessful for the offices of U.S. House and circuit court judgesships. The challenge ended up being faced by those who applied after April 26th.
The Michigan Democratic Party targeted three Republicans in the race for the governorship: Johnson, Tudor Dixon, and James Craig, who were both businessmen.
Democrats claimed evidence of rampant signature fraud in Craig’s and Johnson’s nomination petitions. They also argued for Dixon’s campaign having signature fraud and her forms listing an incorrect date.
You don’t see clean petitions that have 10 names. There are no cross-outs. Every sheet is completed at aEUR. At a press conference, attorney Mark Brewer, former chair of the state Democratic Party, stated that people make mistakes and cross out things, which results in incomplete sheets.
The Board of State Canvassers accepted the challengers to be evaluated.
On May 23, the state Bureau of Elections published an investigative report claiming that 36 paid circulators had forged thousands of signatures in order to receive a $20 per signature average payout.
The report stated that “Even though it is common for staff to find signatures of doubtful authenticity scattered within nominating letters, the Bureau is unaware if there was another election cycle when this many circulators submitted such large volumes of fraudulent petition sheets consisting only of invalid signatures.”
There were also accusations of “round robining,” a practice that involves distributing petitions to people. This is when circulators sign a petition using names from a list and sometimes switch pen colors. Sometimes, circulators may have submitted similar signature sheets to multiple campaigns.
They had been involved in several campaigns. They are being investigated by the state attorney general.
According to the Bureau of Elections, it stated that it did not “have reason to believe any particular candidates or campaigns were aware of activities of fraudulent-petition circulationators.” However, after collecting signatures from circulators, the bureau discovered many candidates who fell below the threshold for being eligible to run for office.
These included GOP hopefuls Craig, and Johnson for governor. Dixon overcame her difficulties. Capt. Michigan State Police Michael Brown chose to end his campaign than associate his candidacy in signature fraud.
The Bureau of Elections report went to the Board of State Canvassers. It was at this meeting that the Board of State Canvassers, after an eight-hour session on May 26, failed to reach a consensus on how to handle the affected governor’s campaigns.
Two members of the Democratic party were against the candidate ballot access. Two Republican members voted against allowing candidates to vote access. They objected to the practice of distributing signature sheets from suspected fraudsters instead of checking each petition sheet line by line.
This tie led to the blocking of the candidates from the primary ballot.
Common Cause, an independent group that supports democracy, shares concerns about the speed of the process.
“This action was unprecedented, with challengers discovering about their alleged indiscretions only days before pleading the cases to the Board of Canvassers,” Quentin Turner (Policy Director at Common Cause Michigan) stated in a statement.
Michigan’s Democratic secretary-of-state is expected to certify eligible candidates by Friday. This comes after some candidates who were blocked from being on the primary ballots have filed suit.
On Wednesday, however, Johnson and Michael Markey (a fellow gubernatorial candidate) were rejected by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Markey is a financial advisor. Markey promised to fight his battle to the state Supreme Court.
Craig’s appeal was denied by the Michigan Court of Claims on Thursday. Craig also stated that he would fight the state’s highest court.
He stated that voters should decide who their candidates were, and not unelected government bureaucrats.
If all else fails you can run as a write in candidate for the general and primary elections.
Michigan is a battleground state. Conservatives in Michigan and across the country are interested in challenging the incumbent governor. Gretchen Whitmer. Throughout her tenure, the Democrat has been at odds with the Republican-led state legislature.
Whitmer, despite any pending litigations, will be the Republican nominee.
Despite reports of turmoil in the Craig campaign, and Johnson’s late entry to the race for the nomination, both seemed to be in fairly strong positions prior last week’s developments.
The DeVos clan, an influential figure in Michigan conservative politics has endorsed Dixon as governor. However, it is not clear if there are any benefits to a DeVos bump. According to a recent poll, Dixon was not far behind.
