Five Republican candidates for governor in Michigan could be disqualified after the state’s election board found evidence of thousands of forged signatures in the politicians’ petitions for ballot access.
In a reportThe Michigan Bureau of Elections released Monday’s findings that petition circulators had submitted at minimum 68,000 forged Signatures across 10 sets of Candidates, including Perry Johnson and James Craig. top RepublicansCandidates who want to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is the candidate to challenge Democratic Gov.
Craig, a former Detroit Police Chief had only submitted 10,192 signatures. 11,113 forged signaturesThe bureau reported that Johnson had submitted 9,393 invalid signatures and 13,800 valid ones. Both candidates failed to meet the requirements after the invalid signatures were removed. 15,000 signature thresholdTo be eligible to vote. The deadline for petition submission was in late April.
Three other Republican candidates failed to meet the criteria to be eligible for the ballot. with each candidateThe agency found that more than 10,000 signatures were invalid. Errors included petition sheets with multiple signatures sharing a distinctive handwriting style, consistent errors or misspellings on the same sheet, and signatures from people who aren’t registered to vote or from voters who had died months or years ago.
The bureau’s findings will now go to the Board of State Canvassers, a bipartisan group made up of two Republicans and two DemocratsThe group will consist of a Republican chair and a Democrat vice chair. The group is scheduled for meetThursday
If the board upholds the bureau’s findings, it would result in a major shake up for the Republican primary for the governor’s seat, which is scheduled for August. A new leading candidate will emerge, with half of the 10 gubernatorial contenders disqualified. candidate could beTudor Dixon, Donald Trump-backed Tudor Dixon and family of DeVos, has denied the results in the 2020 presidential elections.
The fact that Republican candidates would be disqualified due to election-related fraud is ironic considering that the GOP has spent years crowing about Democrats committing election fraud in the 2020 election on a broad scale — claims that have been found to be untrueEvery state in the United States. It is actually quite the contrary. High-ranking RepublicansTrump’s election fraud was committed by those who were found to have committed voter corruption.
According to the Michigan bureau, this number of forged signatures in an election cycle could be unprecedented. “Although it is typical for staff to encounter some signatures of dubious authenticity scattered within nominating petitions, the Bureau is unaware of another election cycle in which this many circulators submitted such a substantial volume of fraudulent petition sheets consisting of invalid signatures, nor an instance in which it affected as many candidate petitions as at present,” according to the report.
Johnson, at least one candidate, says that their team includes Johnson is planning to challenge the bureau’s findings. The report stated that it’s unlikely that candidates were aware of the high amount of signature forgeries.
After citizens had requested the investigation, they began it. the state Democratic PartyLast month, they filed complaints about the signatures.
“The extensive evidence of fraud and forgery found throughout the nominating petitions submitted by James Craig, Tudor Dixon, and Perry Johnson indicate not only that their irresponsible campaigns are grossly negligent, but that they are not capable of being accountable leaders,” state Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a statement. The challenge is to Dixon wasThe bureau ultimately declared the decision invalid.
