I don't normally start threads but this just strikes me as third world country-ish to have the gall and the means to get the opposition off the ballot. I did check and saw no other thread on this topic

5 GOP candidates in Michigan ineligible after fraud, election office says

By Amy B Wang
May 24, 2022 at 12:41 p.m. EDT

Five of 10 Republican candidates for the gubernatorial nomination in Michigan are ineligible to appear on the ballot because of invalid signatures on their nominating petitions, the Michigan elections bureau said in a report Monday, upending the race little more than two months before the August primary.

Those the elections bureau said were ineligible include former Detroit police chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson, who have been considered the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor. Others were Donna Brandenburg, Michael Brown and Michael Markey.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, will meet Thursday morning to discuss the election bureau’s report and rule on whether the candidates can appear on the Aug. 2 primary ballot.

State investigators identified 36 people who circulated petitions “who submitted fraudulent petition sheets consisting entirely of invalid signatures,” according to an elections bureau report published Monday night.

“In total, the Bureau estimates that these circulators submitted at least 68,000 invalid signatures submitted across 10 sets of nominating petitions,” the report stated. “In several instances, the number of invalid signatures submitted by these circulators was the reason a candidate had an insufficient number of valid signatures.”

The gubernatorial candidates were required to collect at least 15,000 valid signatures to appear on the ballot. According to the elections bureau, Craig’s campaign submitted 11,113 invalid signatures and only 10,192 “facially valid” ones, while Johnson’s campaign submitted 9,393 invalid signatures and 13,800 facially valid ones, leaving both below the required threshold.

The bureau’s investigation also found that Brandenburg’s campaign submitted 11,144 invalid signatures and 6,634 facially valid ones; Brown’s campaign submitted 13,809 invalid signatures and 7,091 facially valid ones; and Markey’s campaign submitted 17,374 invalid signatures and 4,430 facially valid ones.

The elections bureau noted that this level of fraud — both in the number of invalid signatures submitted and the number of campaigns affected — was unprecedented. Some of the fraudulent petition sheets tended to show “no evidence of normal wear,” or showed evidence of having been “round-tabled,” a practice in which each person in a group takes turns signing one line of a petition in an attempt to make the signatures appear authentic, the bureau said.

The report comes as former president Donald Trump relentlessly perpetuates the debunked, baseless claim that widespread voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020.

Johnson has said he shares Trump’s “concern about election security” and attended a fundraiser with the former president for a fellow Republican at Mar-a-Lago in March. Craig has sought to distance himself more from Trump’s voter-fraud claims but has said he would support a “thorough audit” of the 2020 election results and would accept Trump’s endorsement if it were offered to him.

The elections bureau said it did not have reason to believe specific candidates or campaigns were aware their petitions were being fraudulently circulated, but made their recommendations to disqualify five of them based on whether a candidate met the 15,000-signature threshold after invalid signatures were removed from their petitions.

Mark Brewer, a former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party who filed a lawsuit challenging Craig’s nominating petition last month, told Bridge Michigan, “The proof just keeps piling up of a massive forgery scheme.”

In a statement Monday, Johnson called for reforms to the nominating petition process, saying it was “fatally flawed.”

“Criminals can commit fraud for money or by purposely infiltrating a victimized campaign with illegitimate signatures in a machiavellian attempt by the opposing party to later have them removed from the ballot,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, the signatures provided to campaigns cannot currently be checked until after their submission to the Secretary of State. This needs to change, immediately.”

John Yob, a consultant for Johnson, said in a set of tweets that the campaign would take the case to court if necessary and cast itself as one of the victims of the forgers.

“The staff of the Democrat Secretary of [State] does not have the right to unilaterally void every single signature obtained by the alleged forgers who victimized five campaigns,” Yob said. “We strongly believe they are refusing to count thousands of signatures from legitimate voters who signed the petitions and look forward to winning this fight before the Board, and if necessary, in the courts.”

Brown, a Marine Corps veteran and commander of the Southwest Michigan District of the State Police, announced Tuesday that he was immediately withdrawing from the governor’s race.

“It appears that after my campaign’s signature gathering was complete, individuals independently contracted for a portion of our signature gathering and validation jumped onto other campaigns and went on a money grab,” Brown said in a statement. “They were involved in allegedly fraudulent signature gathering activities with these campaigns causing the Michigan Bureau of Elections to declare all of the signatures connected to those individuals as invalid. I cannot and will not be associated with this activity.”

The Republican nominee will face Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who is seeking another term.

quote:

State investigators identified 36 people who circulated petitions “who submitted fraudulent petition sheets consisting entirely of invalid signatures,” according to an elections bureau report published Monday night.

“In total, the Bureau estimates that these circulators submitted at least 68,000 invalid signatures

If I had to guess, I'd bet these 36 people got paid by the signed ballot, and then decided getting out and doing their job was too much like work, so they signed them all themselves.

If only such due diligence were applied to all absentee/mail-in ballots.

So I'm fairly tuned in to Michigan politics.

At least 3 campaigns hired the same firm to gather signatures. It takes about 15k signatures to get on the ballot for governor. Petition circulators are paid between $12 and $15 for each signature they garner. The owner of this firm has a history of playing fast and lose. they were convicted of election fraud in 2012. They also have had issues in other states outside of Michigan.

The only person to blame for those kicked off the ballot are the campaigns themselves. This firm should never have been used. Staff simply didn't do their due diligence.

So . . . are there any good GOP candidates left who qualified? As one who grew up in Detroit, I was kind of hoping that Chief Craig would win.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
So I'm fairly tuned in to Michigan politics.

At least 3 campaigns hired the same firm to gather signatures. It takes about 15k signatures to get on the ballot for governor. Petition circulators are paid between $12 and $15 for each signature they garner. The owner of this firm has a history of playing fast and lose. they were convicted of election fraud in 2012. They also have had issues in other states outside of Michigan.

The only person to blame for those kicked off the ballot are the campaigns themselves. This firm should never have been used. Staff simply didn't do their due diligence.

Brad from my understanding if there was a fraudulent signature on a sheet the whole sheet was thrown out. Is that following election rules?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: triggertreat,

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
So . . . are there any good GOP candidates left who qualified?

Good? Maybe. Electable? Nope.

Coincidental? Sure, why not?

It's possible I'll never bother to vote in Michigan again. I suspect it's a pointless exercise. I imagine it'll eventually become necessary to move to a less corrupt state.

quote:

The report comes as former president Donald Trump relentlessly perpetuates the debunked, baseless claim that widespread voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020.

Yeah, they just HAD to throw that in. . .

(Insert vomit emoji here)

Debunked how? Ridiculous. And it's hardly baseless.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Debunked how? Ridiculous. And it's hardly baseless.

Because they said so, you know.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:
Brad from my understanding if there was a fraudulent signature on a sheet the whole sheet was thrown out. Is that following election rules?

The circulator of the petition is by signing them for submission responsible to have seen they were all valid signatures. Even a signature from someone from the wrong district on a petition can get it tossed. It doesn't have to even be fraudulent.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
So . . . are there any good GOP candidates left who qualified? As one who grew up in Detroit, I was kind of hoping that Chief Craig would win.

flashguy

I had an opportunity to have lunch with Chief Craig about a month ago. Nice guy but my impression was Lansing would eat him alive.

Of the remaining candidates, there are a few good ones. But no great ones (I'm of the opinion there were no great ones in the bunch).

Whitmer will win another term. It's rare that Michigan doesn't re-elect a sitting governor. She will be back for 4 more years unless she gets called up to DC for a cabinet level appointment.

I'll be concentrating on helping my state rep win another term and a congressional campaign for a new district. I don't have a primary for my commission seat so I get a break from campaigning for myself.

Based on the fraudulent activities that have occurred in recent 'Elections', I would not be surprised if there were an organized effort (conspiracy?) to purposefully sabotage the 'signature gathering' activities in order to disqualify any viable opponents that would be a legitimate challenge to 'Wretched Gretchen'.

That said, as 'Appliance Brad' states, these candidates chose poorly here and have only themselves to blame for what occurred.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:

quote:

The report comes as former president Donald Trump relentlessly perpetuates the debunked, baseless claim that widespread voter fraud cost him reelection in 2020.

Yeah, they just HAD to throw that in. . .

(Insert vomit emoji here)

Yeah, and in an article about... Election fraud

So there was nothing found wrong in 2020, but these folks had time to sort out some almost 74k invalid signatures? (not to mention checking all the valid ones)

Did someone sign Ben Gay and Dick Hurtz 60 thousand times?

For those interested there is a debate amoung the GOP candidates at 3pm today. Fox 32 in T.C. is covering it.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
So there was nothing found wrong in 2020, but these folks had time to sort out some almost 74k invalid signatures? (not to mention checking all the valid ones)

Did someone sign Ben Gay and Dick Hurtz 60 thousand times?

That's the fucking rub. It's like you're in front of them watching them chew with crumbs around their mouths while they brazenly say to you, "I'm not eating anything" as if they know you're powerless to do anything about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
That's the fucking rub. It's like you're in front of them watching them chew with crumbs around their mouths while they brazenly say to you, "I'm not eating anything" as if they know you're powerless to do anything about it.

The GOP in Michigan is toothless. The other parties are non-issues. The election system is corrupt--thanks in part to help from the GOP. The press, of course, is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the left. So, yeah: In Michigan there really is nothing one can do about it.

There is one last sliver of hope: That the Secure MI Vote petition drive is successful. But, last I heard, the drive was well short of the needed number of signatures. And, if it's not, we know Michigan's Election Bureau, the Board of Canvassers, and the Ruling Triumvirate in Lansing (Whitmer, Nessel, Benson) will use any means necessary to find it invalid.

The MI Democrats have to be watching the growing nationwide dissatisfaction with Biden and Co. They must believe it will affect them too. I would guess more tactics like this will happen to keep them in power.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
So there was nothing found wrong in 2020, but these folks had time to sort out some almost 74k invalid signatures? (not to mention checking all the valid ones)

Did someone sign Ben Gay and Dick Hurtz 60 thousand times?

Them to include Mr. Dover and Mr. Hunt.

Benjamin and Micheal respectively who go by Ben and Mike.

Is the write-in ballot not legal in Michigan primaries?

Is there some reason that anyone except the Michigan GOP would choose the timing and method of putting primary candidates on the ballot so long as it occurs early enough that the ballots can be printed (or input)?