State officials have referred suspected incidents of petition fraud to Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office for investigation and potential charges.
Both the Michigan Department of State and Nessel’s office confirmed the referral. Nessel’s team is now “reviewing the information provided” before deciding whether to start an investigation, per an AG’s office spokesperson.
The problems center around 36 petition circulators, who compiled an estimated 68,000 fraudulent signatures for 10 candidate campaigns – including five Republican candidates for governor: James Craig, Perry Johnson, Michael Brown, Michael Markey Jr. and Donna Brandenburg.
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The Department of State has recommended all five be kicked off the Aug. 2 primary ballot, although the Board of State Canvassers has the final say at its Thursday, May 26, meeting.
In a Tuesday press call, Nessel promised “extensive investigations where we see evidence of criminal activity,” according to Bridge Michigan reporter Jonathan Oosting.
She has also called out the candidates for not inspecting their petitions thoroughly enough before turning them in.
“If you are running for a statewide office for something as important as the governor of the state of Michigan, I do think it’s incumbent upon that candidate to make some level of inquiry as to whether or not the signatures they are submitting are fraudulent or not,” Nessel told WXYZ.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined to comment on Wednesday when asked about the news of the alleged fraud.
The Bureau of Elections named the 36 petition circulators “who submitted fraudulent petition sheets consisting entirely of invalid signatures” in its 17-page report on May 23.
The bureau does not believe any of the candidates were aware of the fraudulent petition gathering. But their lack of quality control before submitting the petitions may result in their disqualification.
The fraud was uncovered due to a litany of errors, according to the report. Names of the signers were paired with outdated addresses, the petitions showed no normal wear and tear, there were names of people who died years ago and the handwriting did not match the signatures the state had on file for voters.
The alleged fraudsters likely used an outdated mailing list and forged those names on the petitions, the state believes.
Craig, a front-runner in the race, called the fraud an “orchestrated effort” to get him off the ballot, he told the Detroit Free Press. He urged Nessel to investigate the circulators who “defrauded” his campaign.
“We cannot allow something so devious to go unanswered,” Craig said in a statement to MLive. “We must put partisanship aside and stop this from ever happening again.”
Candidates for governor need 15,000 valid signatures from registered voters to make the primary election ballot. Candidates often contract out the work to paid petition circulators if they do not have enough volunteers to help.
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