LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s elections bureau said late Monday that five Republican candidates for governor, including two leading contenders, failed to file enough valid nominating signatures and should not qualify for the August primary.
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The stunning recommendations immediately transformed the race in the battleground state and dealt a major blow to former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who has led in primary polling despite campaign problems, and businessman Perry Johnson, who has spent millions of his own money to run. Democrats had challenged their petitions, alleging mass forgery and other issues. Another GOP candidate, Tudor Dixon, had also contested Craig’s voter signatures as fake.
The bipartisan, four-member Board of State Canvassers will meet Thursday to consider the elections bureau’s findings of fraud across five gubernatorial campaigns. The Republican candidates, who are vying to face Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November, could end up going to court if they do not make the ballot.
Bureau staff also determined that three other lesser-known GOP candidates — Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michael Markey — did not turn in enough valid signatures.
If the canvassers agree with the recommendations, the 10-person field of political newcomers would be cut in half to five. Those qualifying for the ballot would be Dixon, a former conservative TV news host who netted the DeVos family endorsement earlier Monday; chiropractor and grassroots activist Garrett Soldano; wealthy self-funding businessman Kevin Rinke; real estate broker and anti-coronavirus lockdown activist Ryan Kelley; and pastor Ralph Rebandt.
The bureau said Craig submitted 10,192 valid signatures — well short of the 15,000 needed. It tossed 11,113 signatures, including 9,879 that were allegedly fraudulently collected by 18 paid circulators. The agency found evidence of consistent handwriting across all signatures on individual petition sheets and of “round-tabling,” where circulators took turns signing a line on each sheet in an effort to vary handwriting and make signatures appear authentic.
Johnson turned in 13,800 valid signatures, according to staff. They tossed 9,393, including 6,983 that they said are fraudulent and were gathered by many of the same people who also forged signatures that Craig submitted.
The bureau said it discovered the fraud on its own review and did not process the challenges filed by the Michigan Democratic Party and Dixon. It also uncovered more than 42,000 bogus signatures that were collected for Brandenburg, Brown and Markey. The agency dismissed a challenge to Dixon brought by Democrats, who said the heading on her petition wrongly listed the end of the next gubernatorial term as 2026, when it is Jan. 1, 2027.
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A message seeking comment was left with Craig’s campaign late Monday.
Photodan24 on May 25th, 2022 at 17:14 UTC »
Glad the Republicans made us more wary of election fraud!
Past_My_Subprime on May 25th, 2022 at 17:02 UTC »
There's zero reason for decently-funded campaigns to allow this to happen. Lists of registered voters are publicly available in virtually every state; the campaigns already make use of them to decide where to advertise, etc.
throwforanexplanatio on May 25th, 2022 at 16:07 UTC »
It was actually 5 of the 10 Republicans.